


Undertale HOAG

by Leprot00978



Series: Undertale HOAG [1]
Category: Undertale
Genre: Abovetale, Anxiety, Bad Decisions, Depression, Dreams and Nightmares, F/F, F/M, Family, Gen, Guilt, Hurt/Comfort, I'm Bad At Tagging, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Insomnia, M/M, Panic, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Survivor Guilt, TriggerWarning, Undertale Monsters on the Surface, Undertale Saves and Resets, undertalefanfiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-03-23
Packaged: 2019-03-23 21:28:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 32
Words: 128,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13796703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leprot00978/pseuds/Leprot00978
Summary: After many resets a pure pacifist route is completed and the monsters come to the Surface.There are many issues that still need to be addressed as everyone recovers from their time in the Underground, none the least of which is Frisk who begins to feel the repercussions of all that they had done while playing God.There is still one monster that is trapped though and Frisk is determined to save them. In saving them they will be able to save others, maybe even themselves?





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Always welcome to critiques and openly request them.  
> Enjoy!

The morning after you had broken the barrier all of your friends had stood beside you watching the sunrise. It had been beautiful and you couldn’t remember a time before you’d fallen into the -Underground that you’d ever felt more loved. You’d stood beside Toriel as you all watched the rising sun. As you’d looked around at all your friends you saw tears filling all their eyes as they watched the sunlight fill the sky from where they stood on Mt. Abbott.  
It’d been messy at first but finally, after so many RESETs, you’d broken the seal. All that was left to do now was-  
“Frisk,” King Asgore was suddenly beside you. “I have something to ask of you…”  
You stare up at the King of monsters.  
“Will you act as our ambassador to the humans?” Asgore asked.  
You think about the offer, do you want to be the ambassador?  
You smile up at the King and nod.  
“NYEH HEH!” Papyrus burst out excitedly. “FRISK WILL BE THE BEST AMBASSADOR! AND I-” With a flourish he picks you up and places you on his shoulders. “WILL BE THE BEST MASCOT! COME FRISK! WE MUST MAKE A GOOD IMPRESSION! AND WHAT BETTER WAY THAN ARRIVING EARLY?!”  
Papyrus begins to run full speed down the mountain. You laugh excitedly as the others race after the two of you. Papyrus suddenly topples to the ground as he tried to stop running and you both land in a heap with Sans who had somehow gotten in front of you.  
“Oww….” You grumble, you’re still sore from the last fight you had with Flowey. You realize that your entire body hurts from all the beatings you’d taken in the Underground.  
“Geez Papyrus.” Sans said getting up and dusting off his hoodie. “Don’t go and break a leg before you even get to the humans.”  
“THE GREAT PAPYRUS HAS NO INTENTIONS OF BREAKING ANY BONES!” Papyrus snapped at Sans. “COME HUMAN! WE MUST MEET THE OTHER HUMANS AND TELL THEM THAT THE OTHER MONSTERS WILL BE ARRIVING SOON!”  
“Papyrus, was it?” King Asgore said breathlessly, panting as he and the others finally managed to catch up.  
“YES YOUR MAJESTY!” Papyrus was suddenly standing up straight and at attention.  
You giggle as Sans helps you up, her friend winking at you with a wide grin.  
“I’m, er, completely fine with you being the mascot of monsterkind, but I think that perhaps it would be best if just myself and Frisk go to meet the Human Leaders.” Asgore told him, offering his hand to Frisk. “The humans haven’t seen our kind in many years and we want to have a peaceful relationship.”  
“OH,” Papyrus seemed to deflate slightly before puffing out his chest proudly. “I UNDERSTAND! THE HUMANS DON’T KNOW TO EXPECT THE GREAT PAPYRUS AND MY GREATNESS CAN BE QUITE INTIMIDATING TO THE UNSUSPECTING!”  
You giggle as Asgore nods his head with an amused smile.  
“Still though,” Toriel frowned, her gaze distant as she thought. “Asgore, remember what happened the last time a monster…. Brought a human…. Back here…”  
There was a round of silence fell over the group before Asgore reluctantly agreed.  
“Then how are we supposed to do this?” It was Undyne who broke the silence, her face showing how annoyed she was.  
You stay silent as your friends talk over various plans before shooting them down.  
You think of Flowey, Asriel actually, and how the humans had attacked him as soon as they saw him.  
You frown, you don’t want your friends to get hurt but you also wanted to help them…  
You have an idea and tug on Sans’ sleeve since he was closest.  
“What is it kiddo?” Sans looks down at you with a wide grin. “Have an idea?”  
You explain to him that you could go into the town on your own and bring an adult to them, that way they wouldn’t be beset upon by a whole mob of humans.  
“You’re a bone-afide genius kid.” Sans grins at you before turning to the group. “Hey, listen up, the kid’s got an idea.”  
You soon find yourself walking out of the forests around Mt.Abbott towards the town. It felt like it had been years ago that you had fled for the mountain and subsequently fallen to the Underground.  
Just as you reach the outskirts of the town you freeze. After all that had happened in the Underground you’d forgotten the reason you’d fallen down that hole in the first place.  
Until now…  
What if the adults try to send you back to that awful place?  
What if no one believes you and you can’t bring anyone back to meet your friends?  
What if you never see your friends again?  
Worse yet, what if your friends come looking for you and get hurt by humans in the process?  
All these questions fill your mind and you begin to tremble.  
Something pings in the back of your mind and you begin to tremble. Had you just saved? It sounded like it but there wasn’t a save point anywhere that you could see.  
A flash of blue light catches the corner of your eyes and you feel a hand on your shoulder.  
You yelp in surprise and turn around to see Sans standing behind you, looking down at you concerned.  
“We saw you stop from up there.” Sans told you with a frown, pointing back at the mountain side. “What’s rattling your bones kid?”  
You stare up at him and then look back to the town.  
You tell Sans that you’re afraid you’ll fail and that you’ll never see your friends again or worse that they would all get hurt.  
Sans listens, pauses, then smiles.  
“Then” he flips the hood of his hoodie over his head and stuffs his hands into his pockets. “I’ll just come with you and make sure that is not going tabia issue.”  
You smile, relieved that you won’t be alone.  
With his hood over his head and hands in his pockets no one could tell that Sans was a Skeleton.  
It was early morning and people in town were just waking up so there weren’t many people around yet.  
You lead Sans up to the school where a janitor was sweeping the steps.  
“Aren’t you early kid?” The janitor askes you, the janitor had always been kind to you before.  
You explain to him that you want to see the principle.  
“I don’t know if Mr. McGregor is in right now.” The Janitor frowned as he looks you over. “You look familiar kid. What’s your name?”  
You tell him.  
“Frisk?” The janitor pauses, his eyes going wide. “Frisk *FILE CORRUPTED*?!” He looks between you and Sans who still had his hoodie up. “You’ve been missing for months! Who’s this?” The janitor’s eyes turn suspiciously on Sans.  
You explain that he’s your friend, Sans, and he helped you get back. You continue that you have other friends waiting back for you and that you really need to talk to the principle because he’s in charge of everything.  
“Oh…” The Janitor still seems suspicious of Sans who remained quiet throughout your explanation. “Alright.” He opens the door to the school. “Why don’t you go wait in the front office? I’ll make sure that the Principle knows you are here.”  
You smile and tug Sans’ hoodie for him to follow.  
The school is as you remember it being. Other children’s art projects line the walls, tall doors line the halls, announcements pinned to decorated peg boards. You lead Sans to the large desk at the front of the building where a nice secretary used to sit. You both take a seat in the plastic chairs that line the wall in front of the desk.  
“So, you know this place pretty well?” Sans asks you, his hood still up.  
You nod and tell him that this used to be your school.  
“So…” Sans seems a little confused. “The principle you’re trying to meet… He’s in charge of all the humans?”  
You explain that the principle is in charge of the school and that the school is the biggest thing that you know of in the Overground and that the Principle is the most powerful person you can think of.  
“Well, shouldn’t hurt to meet him.” Sans shrugs with a grin, resting an arm across your shoulders.  
A tall man wearing a brown suit walked up to them.  
You get out of your seat, gently tugging Sans’ hoodie so he would too, and walk up to the principle.  
“Frisk *FILE CORRUPTED*?” The Principle looks down at you with a shocked expression. “Where have you been? What happened to you?”  
You explain to the Principle that you’d run away up Mt. Abbott and fell down a hole.  
“A hole?” The Principle shakes his head in disbelief. “Do you mean to say you’ve been in a hole for almost a year?”  
Yes, you tell him, and continue to explain about the Underground and the monsters there.  
“You’ve been living with monsters?” The Principle now chuckles, his eyes flicking to Sans who remained silent with his hands still in his hoody. “And who are you? How did you find this child?”  
“They fell down the hole.” Sans shrugs pushing his hood back. “And we helped them get back out.”  
Your friend grins widely at the pale face of the principle.  
“Nice to meet you Mr. Principle.” Sans extended his hand to him. “I’m Sans. Sans the Skeleton.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me whatcha think!  
> No flames please!

The next six months went by quickly. Not only were peace agreements and land treaties struck but there was also the construction of the first settlement begun. That was not including Social Services who had been instantly called the moment you were identified who had insisted that you get checked out by the local hospital. From that hospital, the small clinic in the town at the base of Mt. Ebbott, you were sent to a bigger hospital in the nearest city over two hours away the same day. Luckily your friends didn’t leave your alone for a minute, taking it in shifts to keep you company. Your guardianship, which had been in the care of the state prior to falling to the Underground, was transferred to Toriel and Asgore. It had been a portion of the peace agreement that they had struck with the humans, that you got to choose your own guardians instead of the courts deciding, and though certain caveats had been put into place by the humans it had been met.  
The day that the King and Queen of monsters arrived with the Social Service worker to tell you the news you’d cried. You were so happy to know that you got to stay with all your friends and, even though Toriel was still angry with Asgore and insisted that she would never truly be back together with him, they both treated you like their own child.  
Eventually, the dozens of hairline fractures all across your body healed and your concussions faded. You even began to sleep throughout the night which was something you hadn’t been able to do in a long time even since before the Underground. The doctors finally gave the green light for you to go home.   
By that point the world, which had been in shock and chaos when their small band of monsters had surfaced, had mostly settled. Papyrus had been the first monster to get a license, as terrifying as that was, and had received an “embassy” car to drive about on important business such as taking the King and Queen where they were needed to be. On the day you were discharged all of your friends had come to take you to the new home waiting for you. Even Mettaton came to make his first Surface world debut that was televised live for all of the Underground, the MTT News story being your discharge from the human hospital.   
You’d been so happy to arrive at the new home that had been built in the monster settlement for your family. There were already almost two dozen houses built on the one hundred fifty plus acres of land around Mt. Ebbott and next to the nearby town. Monsters were working around the clock with human construction workers to build what was sure to be a massive town, maybe even a city in time, for all of the monsters underground to come to. Your own home with Toriel and Asgore was a large house with big windows, a large front and back yard, and five bedrooms. You learned that, for the time being, Sans and Papyrus would be staying in the same house with you because Toriel and Asgore were often so busy overseeing the settlement that they were rarely home. Toriel seemed upset when she told you that she was very busy but was firm in that she would be there for you in every way possible.   
You’d been so delighted that your two closest skeleton friends were staying with you that you’d hugged them both tightly.  
“NYEH HEH HEH!” Papyrus laughed happily, hugging you back tightly. “BUT OF COURSE I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WOULD NOT LET OUR HUMAN DOWN! FEAR NOT MY FRIEND! WHILE THE KING AND QUEEN ATTENDS TO OUR PEOPLE WE SHALL ATTEND TO YOU!”  
You giggled, thinking how wonderful your life would now be. You would never be lonely and no monster would want to hurt you. You tell them, all of your friends, how and why you’re so happy.  
“Anyone gives you any trouble just be sure to let me know and they’ll get dunked.” Sans said with a wide grin as he stretched back on the couch.  
“Try to avoid dunking any humans Sans.” Toriel said sternly as Asgore smiled and pats your head.   
“I’m relieved that you have two good uncles to watch over you when Toriel and I cannot.” Asgore tells you.  
An idea comes to mind and you shake your head at the idea that they’re your uncles. Papyrus seems sad as Sans cocks an eye at you. You, grinning widely, tell Asgore that they’re your dunk-les because they’ll dunk anyone who hurts you.   
“SANS YOU’RE A BAD INFLUENCE!” Papyrus snaps instantly as the smaller skeleton laughs.  
“Aw, c’mon dunkle paps.” Sans’ grin grows even wider. “You know that it’s a little humerus.”  
“IT IS NOT!” Papyrus snaps. “YOUR AWFUL PUNS ARE RUBBING OFF ON THE HUMAN!”  
“Papyrus.” Toriel interjected calmly. “Listen to me when I patella you that there’s nothing wrong with a good pun.”   
You dissolve into laughter with Sans.   
You spend your days that summer with Sans and Papyrus, often meeting with Undyne and Alphy as the town grows larger and larger. For the most part you try to avoid the human town but it couldn’t be helped that your monster friends wanted to explore it. Several of the local shops already knew your friends and greeted them happily. Whenever you passed the old orphanage you looked away or clung tighter to your friends. You stayed up late most nights with your friends, exploring the Overworld television channels you had never seen before or looking at the stars. Sans and Papyrus loved looking at the stars and for those first few weeks they did so every night.   
Toriel, on a few occasions, mentioned to you that she wanted you to go to school and that she knew that there was a human school in the town over. You’d shake your head and tell her you wanted to stay home, couldn’t she or someone just teach you everything you needed to know? As the summer wore on the talks about school became more frequent and Sans became a little more distant each day.  
One morning, as you wonder the back yard watching butterflies and sometimes climbing the fence to see the house that was being built next to your own Sans came out to greet you.   
He looks tired and his eyes are completely black, his usually comical smile was strained.  
“Hey kid.” He greets you as you run up to him.  
You ask what’s wrong.  
“Just not feeling it today.” He shrugs you off.  
You ask him if his funny bone is broken but he just pats your head.  
“Tibia honest…” His smile falls. “I’m just worried.”   
About what you ask.  
“Well, everyone is really happy.” Sans explained, you could hear the strain in his voice. “And we’ve been here for almost nine months. Everything is going smoothly and the humans even seem to accept us pretty easily.” He gestured to the house and then to the town being built around them. “They’re even giving us all of this as reparations for what was done to us. It’s all a pretty sweet deal.”   
You ask what could be wrong then, becoming confused.  
“Well…” His eyes become the darkest you’ve ever seen them. “I’m wondering… When are you going to reset it all?” white pinpricks light up in his eyes. “I know that no one else will remember, but then there’s you and me. We will remember, no matter how much I’d rather not. So when kid?” His voice became angry. “When are you going to take all of this away from me like you always do?”  
You feel hurt then sad as you remember the hundreds of resets that you had done.   
You hang your head and look around your new home.   
You remember the awful things that you had done just because you had been curious, and by the time you had wanted to stop… Chara wouldn’t let you…  
You look up at him and resolve to never reset again. Your resolve fills you with DETERMINATION.  
Never, you tell him, you will never reset again.   
Sans stares at you silently for a long time.  
You swear, hoping your friend and dunkle will believe you. You swear that you’ll never resent again. Even if you get hurt, even if your soul gets broken again as it had hundreds of times before, you will not reset.  
“Heh…” Sans finally laughs softly, his eyes dark again. “Then… I suppose I have nothing to worry about.” He pats you on the head, his grin wide and empty. “Thanks kid…”  
Sans walks back into the house.  
You feel heavy, your soul aching guiltily as all of the sins that you had committed crawl up your back.  
Sans wasn’t at supper that night and didn’t leave his room the next two days despite Papyrus’ attempts to coax him out.  
You begin to worry that he hates you and wonder what you can do. You begin believe that it’s your fault that he’s not coming out of his room. After all, you had reset so many times despite the times you fixed everything the right way…  
You try to spend the rest of the summer out of the house as much as possible. Some days Papyrus went with you and you had adventures about the growing town. Other days you visited Alphis and Undyne, if they weren’t busy, and watched Anime or played games like capture the flag. Then, on those days that no one had time for you, you wondered the forests on Mt. Ebbott on the outskirts of town.   
You tell Toriel one evening at supper that, if she still wanted you to go, you’d go to the human school in the town over.  
“Oh, what changed your mind all of a sudden Frisk?” Toriel seemed happy but also perplexed as everyone at the table looks over at you in surprise  
You’d fought really hard to not go to school, so their surprise shouldn’t startle you. Even Sans who had just started reappearing at meals, you still haven’t talked to him since the conversation you had had about the resets with the exception of the occasional pun, looks surprised.  
Everyone has something they do all day and you should to, you reason. Besides, somedays everyone was too busy and you didn’t want to get in their way.  
“You’re never any trouble Frisk, we’re happy you’re with us. But I am glad that you’ve decided to go to school.” Toriel smiles widely. “Asgore, tomorrow we will go to the school in the next town and register Frisk. I was given a list of supplies you’ll need to attend that school by the social worker a while ago so we’ll make sure you have everything you need.”  
“Uhm…” Asgore seemed surprised and hastily slurped the spaghetti he’d been eating. “Yes, of course.” He smiles across the table at you. “The pursuit of knowledge is a noble one, you’ve made another wise decision Frisk.”   
The next morning Asgore and Toriel left early to take care of their work.  
“HUMAN!” Papyrus was so excited that he’d burst into your bedroom and picked you up while you’re still asleep, spinning you around energetically. “I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE BEEN TASKED WITH HELPING YOU AQUIRE ALL THAT YOU NEED FOR SCHOOL! COME!” He stopped spinning to point out the door excitedly. “WE MUSTN’T DALLY!”  
You’re now completely awake and thoroughly dizzy but manage to nod. Papyrus rushes out of the room and as you get dressed you can hear Mettaton outside. You smile, thinking that today will be a good one.  
You enter the hall where you run into Sans. You quickly drop your eyes, as you have been ever since he’d asked you about RESET, and apologize for bumping into him.  
“It’s alright kiddo.” Sans tells you with an easy grin, his eyes watching you more intently than they had for weeks. “What’s got your bones rattled lately? Seems like you’re avoiding me.”  
You tell him that you thought he didn’t want to see you anymore after your conversation about RESETing and that’s why he’d locked himself in his room for so long.  
“Aw, geez kid…” Sans rubs his skull, his smile becoming a little guilty. “I… You see…” He sighs and pats your head. “It wasn’t you baby bones. I was dealing with some stuff is all.” He grins widely at you. “It’s not your fault so don’t worry about it.”   
You nod and tell him again that you will never reset again.  
His expression falls again and he opens his arms wide to you.  
“Come here kiddo.” His voice was gentle, like he was trying to sooth you after a bad nightmare. “Don’t leave an old sack of bones like me hangin, bring it in.” Sans says when you hesitate.  
You hug Sans tightly, knowing that your friend cares about you fills you with DETERMINATION.  
Mettaton went with you to get your school supplies, the robot paramour of Papyrus insisting that they needed his style expertise so that you made a good impression your first day back in school. You giggle, watching Sans grumble his annoyance, and pile into Papyrus’ car. Somehow, your tall skeleton friend had convinced the human embassy to give him a red convertible car. You wonder how long Papyrus had to talk the government officials down until they caved.  
Papyrus was a good driver but he drove fast. Your friends took you to a strip mall over an hour away and made the trip in less than forty five minutes. Thankfully Toriel had armed Papyrus with a list of what you would need and money to purchase the supplies with. While Mettaton and Papyrus threw colorful notebooks, folders, markers, and pencils into the cart you wondered the store.   
You find yourself in a section with lots of hair ties and other pretty things that girls put in their hair.   
You look through and find a section apart from the colorful ties that was mostly black. You like the color purple but you didn’t see any purple ones that you liked. You find a black bow with a white skull clipped into the center of it.   
You pick the bow up and rush back to your friends, holding it up excitedly to show them.  
“What, you want this?” Sans asked taking the bow from her and looking at it.   
“Oh its absolutely darling!” Mettaton said, leaning over Sans’ head as the smaller skeleton looked annoyed. “Look Pappy! It looks like you!”   
“NYEH HEH!” Papyrus grinned widely. “IT IS ALMOST AS GREAT AS I!” He put it in the cart. “NOW TINY HUMAN CAN TAKE SOMETHING THAT REMINDS THEM OF US TO SCHOOL!  
Sans sighs then winks at you with a grin as Papyrus and Mettaton continue loading the cart with supplies.  
 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell Me whatcha think!  
> No flames please!

You take a deep breath, staring at your reflection in the mirror. You wore a white shirt that had “Cool Kid” written in big red letters, jeans, sneakers, and your skull bow clipped securely in your hair. Sitting beside the tall mirror was a purple backpack that Mettaton had found and bedazzled with hundreds of rainbow colored plastic gemstones. It was stuffed with almost a dozen glittery note books, markers, more pencils than you would ever need, a ruler that Mettaton had covered in gold glitter subsequently covering the inch markers, and tied to it was a green lunchbox that Papyrus had covered in stickers of skeletons that he’d found.  
You grab the black hoodie that Sans had found you that read “Bad to the Bone” on the back in big white letters and put it on nervously. Surely school would be nothing for you now. After all you had gone through in the Underground? School should be nothing. This was different, this time around. You had friends, a family to come back to every day. You weren’t alone anymore.  
Knowing that you’re not alone anymore you’re filled with DETERMINATION.  
“Frisk, you need to get going soon if you’re going to make it to school on time.” Toriel’s voice came through the door.  
The door opens and you smile up at your mom.  
“Well, don’t you look ready to go?” Toriel smiles warmly at you and helps you get your backpack on. “Do you have all your supplies?” She asks, checking your bag. “And you already got your lunch.” Your mom turns you around and zips your hoodie up and hugs you tightly. “I’ll be home when you get done. Do you have your cellphone?”  
You nod and pull it out of your jeans pocket to show her, Alphys had updated it and everything.  
“Good, now keep that on silent and call me as soon as you get out of class today.” Toriel tells you firmly, walking you from your bedroom through the house. “I know you’ll play nice with the other children. Just do your best in class today and if there’s something you don’t understand don’t hesitate to ask your teacher.”  
You nod, trying to remember everything that Toriel was telling you. This first day of school was already so different than the ones you’d had before. Papyrus was awake and waiting with a half asleep Sans dozing on the couch beside him.  
“HUMAN!” Papyrus eagerly hugs you, his eyes already watering. “YOU MUST TELL THE GREAT PAPYRUS EVERYTHING ABOUT YOUR FIRST DAY OF HUMAN SCHOOL AS SOON AS YOU GET HOME AND PROMISE NOT TO FORGET ABOUT ME!” His eyes are wide.  
“They’re only going to be gone for seven hours.” Sans groaned tiredly. “And we’re walking them to school too. They’re not going to forget you Papyrus.”  
“I AM ONLY MAKING SURE SANS!” Papyrus snapped before turning back to you with expectant eyes.  
You giggle and promise that you’ll never forget about him, no matter how long school is. The walk to school was fun, just as the past summer had been. Sans and Papyrus lead you to the school. Fortunately the school was situated on the side of town closest to Mt. Ebbott so it was close to your house. You road on Papyrus’ shoulders the entire way and shared knock knock jokes with Sans.  
“WE SHALL SEE YOU AT HOME HUMAN!” Papyrus says loudly as he set you on the ground, they stood just around corner from the school on the far side. It’d been Sans’ idea to stop just short of the school. “BE THE BEST YOU CAN BE AND YOU’LL BE GREAT JUST LIKE ME!”  
You nod and salute Papyrus, trying to make a serious face.  
“Yeah, break a leg kid.” Sans winks at you with a wide grin. “And just remember, if the other kids wanna be brats just dunk ’em.”  
You grin and hug your friends before running around the corner to the school. The front school yard was packed with other children, all of them human. Taking a nervous breath you glance back and see your friends peeking around the corner.  
You are filled with DETERMINATION knowing that you have such great dunkles.  
You enter the crowd of other children milling about the school. There was an excited energy as people greeted friends and talked about what they’d done that summer. Several of the other children around notice you and look confused.  
“Are you new?” A girl near your age asks.  
You nod and tell her that your family just moved to the area.  
“What grade are you in?” The boy who’d been with the girl asked.  
You tell them that you’re in the third grade and supposed to be in Ms. Pepper’s class.  
“So are we.” They both smile at you and soon you find yourself walking with them to the unfamiliar classroom.  
There were colorful posters on the walls, desks in neat rows, and at the front of the room was the teacher’s desk in front of a large chalk board.  
“Welcome students, welcome back.” The teacher smiled so nicely to everyone, even you, as each child filed in. “Now, I’m going to assign seats so when I call your name just follow me to your seat. This will be your desk for the year so take good care of it, understand?”  
The first two periods in your day were Math and Reading. Ms. Pepper was really nice and you didn’t feel afraid to ask her questions. Everything was going really well until lunch time.  
You sat with a group of children from your class, everyone showing off their new lunchboxes that they’d gotten for the school year.  
“Skeletons aren’t pretty!” One of the girls at the lunch table says. “They’re scary!”  
You shake your head and tell them that you’re friends with two skeletons and they’re both really nice.  
“You actually know a monster?” Someone behind you asks.  
You turn around in your seat and a boy much taller than you is standing behind you.  
You nod and tell him that they’re your friends.  
“My dad says that monsters shouldn’t even be here.” The boy shakes his head. “They should just go back to wherever they came from.”  
You tell him that all of your friends are monsters and that your mom and dad are monsters too.  
“Then you shouldn’t be here either!” The boy snapped. “Monsters are freaks that should’ve staying underground.”  
You become angry but one of the lunch room monitors come over and tell the boy, Jerehmiah, to go sit down and that middle schoolers shouldn’t bother the elementary schoolers. You sit back down and fall quiet the rest of lunch.  
You’d thought that everyone had been happy that the monsters had returned. Every time you had seen the topic of the monsters brought up on the news the people that had been interviewed and the reporters had talked about how great it was that the monsters were here.  
During recess you played a game of hide and seek with some of the kids from your class and the incident with the middle schooler was forgotten. You had social studies, science, and music for your last classes of the day. You’d been told that music and PE would alternate days. As the school bell tolled class was dismissed and some of the other kids in your class asked where you lived.  
You tell them that you live in the New Home settlement just outside of town.  
“I’ve never seen an actual monster before.” Molly said eagerly.  
“Me neither.” Greg added hastily. “Can we go with you?”  
Suddenly there were several other kids around your desk, all asking to see monsters. You tell them that you have to ask but if your mom said yes then they could come and meet your friends.  
“Frisk!” Toriel’s voice was happy on the phone. “How was your first day at school my child?”  
You tell her it was good and that there were some kids in your class that wanted to come over to your house after school. You ask if this is okay?  
“Of course, just be sure to let your dunk-les know.” Toriel chuckles at the pun. “You are such a good child, I’m very happy that you’ve made friends so quickly.”  
You finish the conversation and then quickly dial Papyrus to ask if you can bring some of the children from your class home to visit.  
“SANS!” You hear Papyrus shouting over the phone. “OUR HUMAN HAS MADE FRIENDS AND THEY WISH TO MEET THE GREAT PAPYRUS! HELP ME GET THE HOUSE CLEAN!”  
You giggle as you faintly hear the skeleton brothers begin to argue before the call clicks off. You tell your classmates that they can come with you if they’d like.  
It was so strange, you’d never before taken anyone home from school. You knew that friends would often walk home together and hang out after school, but that opportunity had never presented itself to you before. But now you suddenly were walking home from school with six other children, all of them excited to meet your new family.  
Just as you were leaving school with the group of other children who wanted to meet monsters you felt confident that your life was turning around. You had gotten about 2 blocks down the road from the school when Jerehmiah and two other bigger boys stopped them.  
“Hey!” Jeremiah calls after you. “Freak!”  
You stop and look at them, the group of other kids around you growing tense.  
You look at him curiously as the two boys with Jerehmiah laughed, you ask them why they’re laughing.  
“Because you like monsters!” Jerehmiad says as the three of them advance on you.  
You stand still as the group you’d been walking with scramble back.  
You ask what’s the issue with that? You wouldn’t mind actually being a monster.  
The group of boys stare at you, seeming dumbfounded, before Jerehmiah shoves you. You fall back into the dirt but you just get back up again, it wasn’t like you’d never been pushed down. You had DETERMINATION, no matter how many times you got pushed down you knew you’d always get up again as long as you stayed DETERMINED.  
The other children from your class were easier to scare it seemed as most of them dispersed as soon as Jeremiah shoved you.  
You ask him why he shoved you.  
He moves to shove you again but you dodge this time, stepping out of the way.  
“Get back down in the dirt freak!” Jeremiah snaps at you.  
You keep dodging him, watching his movements carefully. You see openings where you could attack but instead try to talk to Jerehmiah, you ask him if he’d be friends with you, you try to do anything but fight. You didn’t want to fight again, ever again, after what had happened the last time. But the urge was there. Every opening, every punch that you dodge, you want to hit back just to make him stop.  
You forgot about his friends and didn’t see them move behind you. You get shoved from behind and into Jerehmiah who shoved you back. You get shoved around by the boys, until you fall into the dirt. You have no other option, you flee.  
You run until you’re sure that you’re not being followed. Memories from before your fall into the Underground circulate in your mind. You’d been bullied before, at school and at the orphanage. You’d been teased at school because you were always so small and didn’t dress as cool as the other kids. At the orphanage… You’d been teased because of who and what your parents had been and done.  
You crouch under a tree, you’re just inside the New Home Monster Reservation, and hold your head. You don’t want to remember those things now, not when everything was going so nicely. You don’t want to think about how lonely and sad you had been before.  
“Hey, kid!” A familiar voice calls out to you.  
You look up and see Undyne walking towards you in what looks like sweats, she must have been out running.  
“What’re you doing here, don’t you have school?” Undyne asks, crouching in front of you and looking at your dusty cloths. “Why’re you all dirty?”  
You want to tell your friend about the middle schoolers who had jumped you, but this was Undyne. You know from experience that Undyne would do anything to protect her friends.  
You tell Undyne that you fell down at recess when you’d been playing hide and seek.  
“Okay, so why are you curled up over here instead of going home?” Undyne asks, cocking a brow at you suspiciously. “Did someone hurt your?!” Her face grew menacing.  
You shake your head quickly, you tell her that you had a headache and that school was much harder than you thought it would be.  
Undyne calms down and chuckles.  
“I didn’t like school either.” Undyne tells you, taking your hand and walking you down the street. “Training was awesome though! Always fighting and working harder to become stronger! Utterly DESTROYING MY OPPONENTS-“  
You giggle, relieved that Undyne had believed you.  
Undyne walks you back to your house and you’re greeted at the door by Papyrus who burst out it excitedly.  
“WELCOME CHILDREN!” He practically shouts enthusiastically.  
“Children?” Undyne grits her teeth. “Just who are you calling a child here bone head?”  
“NYEH?“ Papyrus looks down at you in confusion. “I THOUGHT THAT YOU WERE BRINGING THE FRIENDS YOU’D MADE AT SCHOOL HOME WITH YOU FRISK?”  
You’d forgotten all about that after what had happened. You shake your head, feeling bad that you had gotten Papyrus so excited for nothing.  
You tell him that you got a headache on the way home and that you’d asked them to come another time.  
“OH DEAR…” Papyrus grew concerned. “IS YOUR HEAD STILL HURTING YOU?”  
You nod quietly and shuffle inside.  
“Welcome back kiddo.” Sans grins at you from the couch. “Did you crack skulls with the ground or something? Why’re you covered in dirt?”  
You tell him that you fell down at recess when you’d been playing hide and seek.  
Sans cocks an eye at you but shrugged, getting off the couch.  
“Well,” He yawned and then looked at Undyne. “hey there scales. Came to visit?”  
“I came to make sure that my BFF found their way home safely.” Undyne’s expression was dry. “Found them curled up with a headache under a tree.” She turned on Papyrus. “WHY DIDN’T YOU PICK THEM UP BONE HEAD?! THEY SHOULDN’T BE WALKING AROUND WITH A HEADACHE!”  
“I DIDN’T KNOW THAT OUR HUMAN WASN’T FEELING WELL!” Papyrus says quickly. “IF I HAD KNOWN I WOULD HAVE CERTAINLY GONE TO GET THEM!”  
“Why didn’t you call us if you weren’t feeling well?” Sans asks you. “You’d just called us so I know you had your phone.”  
You tell them that you didn’t think of calling them and then ask Papyrus if you could go lay down.  
“OF COURSE HUMAN.” Papyrus assures you, resting a hand on your shoulders and leading you back to your room. “YOU JUST REST AND I WILL MAKE YOU A PLATE OF MY FAMOUS SPAGHETTI FOR SUPPER!”  
You giggle and, once in your room, thank Papyrus before closing the door. You shake out your dusty hoodie before hanging it up on the doorknob. You lay down on your soft bed and clutch your pillow.  
You try so hard to forget, to push the memories back, but it’s no use. All the fights from the Underground. All the times you killed. All the times you died. Undyne’s spears, her fists cracking against your jaw, your ribs shattering. Asgor’s hand around your throat, his trident stabbing you through and puncturing your lungs, your heart, through the eye…  
You shiver at the memories of the pain. They’d killed you so many times, so many injuries. You could still feel the pain, the suffocating, crushing, pain. You try to cry out to someone, anyone, to help you as your vision began to waver, no longer from tears, but all that comes out is a strangled gasp.  
Sans’ eye flash in your mind and you remember the bones. How those blunt, dull, bones had beat and pierced you. Your body shudders painfully and you begin to cry.  
“Kid!” Sans’ voice startled you.  
You found yourself curled in the fetal position on your bed, Sans standing beside it shaking you awake.  
You stare at him and, for a moment, see the Sans that had slaughtered you so many times before flash in front of you. You scramble back on the bed, away from the skeleton.  
“What’s wrong?” Sans’ eyes were narrow white pricks against black. “What happened?”  
You curl up, your knees to your chest, and shake your head.  
You tell him your fine and that you just had a bad dream is all.  
“Come on kiddo, I might be a bonehead but I’m not stupid.” Sans tells you and you feel the bed shift as he sits beside you. “What’s happened?”  
You cry for a little bit into your arms and you feel Sans rub your back gently.  
“Come on baby bones, you have to talk to me.” Sans’ voice is concerned, worried even. “I can’t make it better if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.”  
You tell him that you were really having a bad dream. You explain that you were remembering times you had died and the pain you felt each time you were killed, all while keeping your head hidden.  
Sans is silent for a moment, his hand still rubbing your back.  
“You too huh?” Sans asks softly, his eyes pitch black.  
You look up at him before wrapping your arms around him and crying.  
You apologize for all the pain you had caused him and for how very many times you had killed him.  
“Hey, it’s alright kiddo.” Sans chuckles, pulling you close and holding you tightly. “It’s alright. It’s not even in this past.” He laughs at his own joke, it was forced. His eyes are still black.  
You nod and remain silent.  
“I was wondering how your first day of school went…” Sans says when the silence becomes too heavy, the setting sun outside filling your bedroom in a golden glow. “You seemed off when you got home, like someone had rattled your bones.” He gives your arm a gentle squeeze. “Did you really have a good day?”  
You sniffle and nod. You tell him about how nice Ms. Pepper is and how the other kids in class were super curious about monsters. You tell him about how Emily had said that skeletons aren’t pretty, making Sans laugh, and then how you played at recess. You tell him everything except the bits about Jerehmiah. You’re still afraid of what your friends would do if they knew about the middle schooler who had shoved you into the dirt and hated monsters.  
“Sounds like you had a good day.” Sans grins at you, his eyes had returned to normal. “Tibia honest I was worried that you might have issues. You’re not like other humans.”  
You cock your head to the side and ask him what he means.  
“Heh, don’t worry about it kid.” Sans winks at you. “Well, I can smell supper, which actually means something since I don’t have a nose.” He chuckles at his own joke. “Come on.”  
Sans helps you off the bed.  
“Frisk…” He pauses, meeting your eyes. “You know that if you ever need to talk to anyone, or if anything is ever bothering you, that we’re all here for you. Right?”  
You nod and take his hand. You tell him that you know and would.  
“Good.” Sans grins, leading you from the room. “I hope suppers ready, I’m so hungry that I’m no skin and all bones.”  
You giggle.  
 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me whatcha think!  
> No Flames Please!

“Welcome home my child.” Toriel smiles at you as you walk into the kitchen, you had just gotten home from school. “Come, sit down, I’ve just finished a butterscotch cinnamon pie.”   
You smile and sit at the kitchen table while your mom cuts you a slice. Toriel and Asgore had been home a lot more, it seemed that things were finally settling down. New Home was building up nicely and monsters were slowly migrating from the underground to their waiting homes. Asgore had taken to landscaping your front and back yard with all sorts of pretty flowers and shrubs. The former King of Monsters had greeted you when you’d walked up the path to the front door after school.  
“Would you like some milk with your pie?” Toriel asks.  
You nod and eagerly bite into your pie. You can feel someone watching you from behind and assumed it was Sans. Lately, the skeleton had begun to keep a close eye on you. You tried to ignore it, you assumed that he was watching you because he was afraid of you RESETting.   
The weeks had gone by since you had started school. Summer was now over and early fall was in full swing. Despite the issues you had at school everything at home was wonderful.  
“Frisk, my child, I want to talk to you.” Toriel says, placing a glass of milk beside you at the table before sitting in the seat opposite you.  
You ask if you’re in trouble, your chest anxiously going tight.  
“Oh no, not at all.” Toriel assures you. “Have you learned about countries and cultures in school?”  
You nod, a little you tell her. You know that there are other countries and that they each have their own customs.  
“Exactly.” Toriel smiles proudly at you. “Well, the humans from those other places sent letters to the embassy here and asked to meet with Asgore and I.” She sighs and massages her temples. “I tried writing back and telling them that we are quite busy, with our home and child, but some people are quite persistent.” She smiles at you. “So, Asgore and I are going to go meet these other humans.”  
You nod and ask if you’ll come too. After all, you point out, Asgore did make you ambassador to the monsters and you hadn’t done anything since then.  
“I would love to bring you with us, my child.” Toriel smiles at you. “But you have school and, for now at least, the human leaders here have said that it would be better if we relied on their ambassadors.”   
You feel sad at this, you tell her that you understand.   
“It’s not that you haven’t done very well.” Toriel adds quickly. “It’s just that, I want you to have as normal a life as possible.” She gets up and hugs you. “You’ve done so much for us, my child, let us at least give you a normal life. When you finish school you can resume your duties as our ambassador, if you still want to.”   
You nod and look up at her sullenly. You ask if they’re going to be doing those long day trips again to meet these other people and Toriel hesitates.  
“That’s just it Frisk…” Toriel seems unhappy. “Asgore and I will be gone for one to two weeks to travel everywhere and meet them.”   
You want to say no and tell her that she can’t go. You want to yell at her that they’re abandoning you. You want to demand to go with them. You want to throw a tantrum and cry until they call it off. You want them to stay here with you.  
You nod quietly and hug Toriel tightly.  
You ask her if she’ll call you and can you text her while she’s gone?  
“Of course my child.” Toriel hugs you back. “And don’t worry, you won’t be alone.”   
She looks at the entrance to the kitchen and smiles.  
“Sans and Papyrus will be here and I know that they’ll take excellent care of you, just as they have been.” Toriel pets your head, you still hold onto her.   
You nod and look back to see Sans and Papyrus standing there.  
“YES HUMAN!” Papyrus says excitedly, coming into the kitchen. “WE WILL HAVE A WONDERFUL TIME! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL MAKE SURE OF IT! WE WILL HAVE SO MUCH FUN THAT YOU WON’T EVEN NOTICE THAT THEIR MAJESTIES ARE GONE!”  
You nod and smile up at them.  
You ask when they’re leaving.  
“This Monday after you head to school.” Toriel tells you, it’s Friday.  
That weekend was quiet, you spent it mostly curled up with Toriel and outside with Asgore. You didn’t like that they were leaving but you didn’t say anything. They were just doing what they had to do, it wouldn’t be fair if you tried to make them feel any worse than they already did about leaving you.   
At least you had this, your perfect home now with a wonderful family. You could always rely on them for anything. You could always go to them when you had trouble. You could always ask for help.  
Maybe that’s why you didn’t? Because they were so eager to help you, you felt guilty for asking them for help. Especially with your current issue…  
After your first day Jeramiah takes special pleasure in tormenting you and no one from your class wants to cross a sixth grader. So no one talks to you. No one plays with you. No one at school acknowledges you except the teachers. When you have to work in groups you end up working alone. When you have recess you end up playing alone at the edge of the playground where the woods start.   
You walk to school alone most days, putting on a brave face and happily telling your family that you’re a big kid now and wanted to walk alone. Somedays it works, some days it doesn’t and Sans and Papyrus walk you anyway. Sans always tells you to call him when school is over and he’ll come get you, but over recesses you inevitably text him or Papyrus that you’re going to be home late because you have a project or want to play with someone after school. They always say that’s okay and tell you to call when you’re about ready and they’ll come get you. You always “forget” to call. Most afternoons you walk home through the woods around Mt. Ebbott. The truth was that you’re afraid of what your friends would think if they saw the other children shy away from you. You also didn’t want to get jumped again by Jerehmiah and his goonies.  
When you and Chara had been one the monsters had all cowered away from you just as your schoolmates now did. But, back in those timelines you had been the tormentor. Now you were the tormented. Memories of what you had done in those genocide runs, just because you could and were curious, nag at you in the back of your mind. Maybe this was the timeline’s way of rectifying everything? Maybe you were being bullied and isolated now because the other kids could sense that there was something wrong with you. Maybe they could see the blood on your hands. Maybe that was why Jeremiah-  
“Freak!” Jeremiah shouted as you walked up the steps to the school.  
You hadn’t been paying attention and found yourself falling back.  
A sharp pain shoots through the back of your head. The last thing you see is the amber and golden leaves of fall, the crystal blue sky, and you could hear bird song before the world goes black.  
You come to in the nurse’s office, your bag and lunchbox on the floor beside the blue padded bed you lay on. White curtains were drawn around you. You can hear soft voices beyond the curtains.  
You sit up and groan, your head hurting.  
“Frisk Dreemurr?” A curtain is drawn back and the nurse enters. She smiles gently at you, she has a clipboard and small package in her hands. “How do you feel? You took quite a fall.”   
You tell her that you feel fine but your head hurts.   
“Yes, you have a pretty large goose egg on the back of your head.” The nurse explains, handing you an icepack. “Press this to it, it should help.”  
You receive “Ice Pack”.  
You equip “Ice Pack”.  
The cooling sensation does help and you look around just as a door opens somewhere.  
“I already called your guardians, they said they’d be here soon. Do you remember how you fell?” The Nurse asks, clipboard in hand ready to write. “We need to fill out an incident report to let your teacher know why you’re not in class today.”   
You recall Jeremiah pushing you down the stairs as you had been entering the school but say nothing. If you tattle on him then he and his friends will only start picking on you more. That was the last thing that you want right now.  
You tell her that you slipped walking up the steps to the school that morning as Sans rounds the corner into the little curtained off room.  
“You should be more careful Frisk, you could have gotten really hurt.” The Nurse tells you as she stands up.  
There’s a moment where you see the blood drain from her face upon seeing Sans but she quickly regains her composure and smiles at him.  
“You must be Frisk’s guardian.” She smiles at him.  
“Yup.” Sans’ usual grin is plastered on his face but you can tell that the skeleton isn’t happy. “I’m their dunkle Sans, Sans the Skeleton.”  
You remain quiet as they shake hands, a gnawing sense of dread filling your stomach.  
“Dunkle?” The nurse chuckles before clearing her throat. “Well, Frisk tripped and bumped their head this morning. I think it would be best if they went home and rested today. If they start to have any headaches though they need to see a doctor.”   
“Gotcha.” Sans nods, picking up your bag. “Come on baby bones, let’s get going, and you heard the nurse. No more picking bones with stairs.”   
You smile softly and thank the nurse before following Sans out of the office. You’re both silent until you leave the school, Sans won’t let you carry your things.  
“So,” Sans’ voice is casual. “care to tell me what actually happened?”  
You ask him what he means.  
“I mean that you don’t have two left feet and you’re like a freaking ballerina on them.” Sans shoots you a stern look. “You don’t expect me to believe that a set of shallow stairs knocked you out? Because I know how hard it is to knock you down and either those stairs are ninjas or you’re lying.”  
You go quiet for a moment before softly saying again that you tripped.  
“So… Kid…” Sans’ voice gets hard. “When did you start lying so much?”  
You remain silent, eyes on the ground as you walked.  
“Because you didn’t used to.” Sans continues. “And, tibia honest, I’m getting sick of it. So, you can either tell me what happened right now or you can tell everyone what happened when we get home.”   
You look up at him quickly to see that the whites of his eyes had gone very narrow.  
“Undyn and Alphys were visiting when the nurse called and I’m sure that they’re hanging around with Paps right now to make sure you’re alright.” Sans tells you. “So, you can either tell me or you can tell all of us. You choose.”   
You feel your eyes begin to water and you stop walking. You’re about half way home, near the park where a lot of kids usually played after school.   
Sans sees that you stopped walking and sighs. He leads you to a bench nearby the swings where he makes you sit.  
“Well?” Sans asks.  
You quietly tell him that you don’t have any friends at school and that everyone ignores you. You tell him that you didn’t want any of them to know because you didn’t want them to worry.   
“Alright...” Sans sighs. “So, if everyone ignores you how’d you end up with that lump on your head?”  
You stay silent for a few minutes before telling him that there are a group of middle schoolers who don’t like monsters and who like to give you a hard time. At this Sans’ eyes go completely black, but he stays quiet and listens.   
“How long have they been pushing you around?” Sans asks quietly.  
Since the first day of school, you tell him.  
“Are these brats the reason you’re coming home late?” Sans asks.  
You tell him that you like to wait until everyone’s left school so that they don’t come after you on the way home again. You tell him that you usually take a back way through the woods around Mt. Ebbott to get home, but that it’s much longer and takes you more time.   
Sans goes quiet for a long time before his eye flashes blue.   
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Sans ask, his teeth gritting. “Why didn’t you tell any of us?”  
You tell him that you were afraid that they would do something drastic that could get them all in trouble.  
“Oh don’t worry kiddo, I am going to do something about this.” Sans tells you angrily. “I’m going to go teach those little brats a lesson.”  
Sans takes your hand and begins to walk you towards the woods.  
You ask him where you’re going.  
“I’m taking you home and then gonna go deal with those brats.” Sans snaps. “I know a short cut.”  
You pull your hand away and shake your head, you beg him not to go after the bullies. You tell him that it will just make everything worse and what if they take you away from your family because he went after the bullies.   
By the time you’re done your eyes have filled with tears, you truly are afraid that you’ll be taken back to the orphanage again just like before. You tell Sans that you know for a fact that him doing something like trying to take care of the bullies who have been tormenting you that the humans will try to take you away.  
“How do you know?” Sans asks, his eyes now going black.  
You tell him that it happened before and tell him that’s why that lady at the hospital was always checking on you. She had been your social service worker from before you fell down to the Underground.   
“Why did you have someone like that before you fell?” Sans asks you. “Did that woman take you away from your family?” He paused, seeming to realize something. “Where is your family? You’ve never mentioned them before.”  
You feel the blood drain from your face and you shake your head. You tell him you don’t want to talk about it.  
“Does it have something to do with why you fell?” Sans continues to press. “Why aren’t you talking to me kid? Did these brats bully you before?”  
You begin to tremble and then tell him you don’t want to talk about it.  
“Kid, what happened before you fell to the Underground?” Sans presses now.  
You clam up and can feel yourself growing numb.  
“Kid?” Sans seems to notice that somethings wrong, his hand grabs your shoulder. “Kid look at me.”   
You do, you meet his eyes. His left eye was blazing blue as he looks at you.  
“What’s wrong?” Sans asks you gently.  
You shake your head, you feel fine just distant.  
“I’m sorry.” Sans says, the blue glow fading from his eye. “Come on, don’t clam up on me, talk to me.”   
You tell him that you don’t want to talk anymore and that you just want to go home.  
“Alright, we’re going home.” Sans takes your hand and leads you through the woods.   
One moment you’re walking through the forest directly towards a tree and the next you’re around the corner of the new Grillby’s, just one street over from your home.  
“Kid…” Sans breaks the silence as you walk home. “Why don’t skeletons like parties?”  
You ask why.  
“Because we have no body to go with.” He grins.  
You giggle and relief washes over his features.   
“There you are.” Sans winks at you. “Come one, let’s go home.”  
Papyrus was beside himself by the time you and Sans get home. In his panic he called Toriel and Asgore.   
You end up having to call Toriel and tell her you’re fine. Between her and Asgore on the phone you can barely understand much other than they’re relieved you’re alright. You ask Toriel if you’re head hurts tomorrow if you have to go to school and she says that you don’t have to but she’ll trust Sans’ and Papyrus’ judgement.  
You spent the rest of the day watching anime with Alphys. Sans disappeared with Papyrus for a while and you worried. But you told yourself that Papyrus wouldn’t hurt another kid. You were relieved when they came back with ice cream for everyone.   
That night Papyrus and Sans both make sure that you’re tucked into bed. Sans read you both a story about the rabbit who loves to play “peek-a-boo”. The Papyrus fell asleep beside you and Sans ended up having to carry him out of the room with the help of his blue magic.   
Despite all that had happened that day, you lay awake and stare out the window at the moon. You begin to think about the first few nights after you had all emerged from the Underground. Everyone had been in awe of the sky above, most mornings your friends watched the sunrise and then at night they marveled at the stars above.   
Just as you begin to doze something blocked the near perfect view you had of the moon from the window. As you fall asleep you realize that the figure blocking your window is the shadow of a person who was smiling very widely.


	5. Chapter 5

A sickening sense of joy flourishes in your chest as you grin widely. You hold the knife loose in your hand, it feels so light. Staring back at you your opponent grins widely, a comical smile.  
“Let’s just get to the point.” He chuckles. “It’s a beautiful day outside. Birds are singing. Flowers are blooming… On days like these kids like you…”  
Your suddenly under the control of his blue magic and slammed against the wall.  
“Should be burning in hell.” You see that his left eye is burning blue.   
You leap off the ground and begin to run towards him swinging the knife violently. You get within arm’s reach when pain shoots through your lower back and out your chest.  
You wake up with a scream.  
You hyperventilate as you hear footsteps race to your room. You rush to the door, the dream still fresh in your mind, and manage to lock it just before someone tries the handle. You scramble, terrified of the memories that are so fresh in your mind as you hear someone outside angrily trying the door.   
A blue light fills your room as you cower in the corner between your bed and the wall.   
Sans appears in your room, his left eye glowing bright blue.   
You hide your face in your arms and, crying, beg for mercy. You apologize rapidly, profusely, terrified that you would be hurt again. Your entire body trembles in fear, in anticipation, of the pain.  
“Kid?” Sans’ voice makes you freeze. “What’s wrong? What happened?”  
You can’t help but tremble, your head still full of the memories.  
“Kid?” Sans asks again, true worry in his voice. “Frisk? Look at me.”  
You shake your head. You manage, in between your tears, to ask him to go away.   
Sans sighs and you hear him shuffling. You look up and see him sitting in front of you, his eyes look tired.  
After some time you manage to calm down and ask him how he heard you and Papyrus didn’t since their rooms are right next to each other.  
“I was working on some stuff in the living room.” Sans shrugs with an easy grin. “Why are you screaming in the middle of the night with a locked door?”  
You go quiet, you can feel his eyes on you and know that after today he’d know if you were lying.  
You tell him that you had a dream about the judgement hall during one of those times…  
Sans goes quiet, his eyes going black, before he gets up and holds out his hand to you.  
“We just can’t seem to catch a break with this stuff can we?” He asks, a wide grin on his face even though his eyes are still black. “Come on kiddo.”  
You hesitate momentarily before placing your hand in his and getting up. Sans makes you get back into your bed and tucks you in again.   
“Just…” He sighs. “Try not to think about it. Okay?”  
You nod but, just as Sans turns to leave, you catch his sleeve.   
“What’s up?” He looks back at you questioningly.   
You ask him if he’ll stay, at least until you fall back asleep. Sans shrugs and nods.  
“Suppose that I don’t have anything else to do.” He says, quickly unlocking the door before sitting beside you on the bed and leans back on the pillow. “Come on baby bones, just lay back and you’ll be asleep before you know it.” Sans yawns the last part as you move closer to him.  
You yawn then but you’re still too anxious to fall asleep.   
“Not gonna fall asleep easily for me, are you?” Sans asks, his eyes drooping tiredly. “Alright… What would a skeleton fix their roof with?”  
You shake your head, you don’t know.  
“Shin-gles.” He chuckles tiredly.   
You giggle softly before telling Sans that he’s “Sans-sational”.  
He chuckles at the pun. Sans stays with you the rest of the night and you both pass bad puns and jokes back and forth until you both inevitably fall asleep.  
You wake up as sunlight weakly breaks through your window. Sans is sleeping beside you where he had been last night. You crawl out of bed, doing your best no to wake the skeleton, and grab your phone. 5:45 in the morning…  
You look around, Papyrus should be up soon, and look back at Sans. You appreciate the fact that he stayed with you all night to make sure that you were okay and you feel bad that he didn’t get to go sleep in his own bed. You grab your covers and pull them up over the skeleton who still snoozes comfortably.  
You creep quietly into the house, you hear the shower running and wonder if Papyrus was already awake. You shrug and continue to the kitchen.  
You pour yourself a glass of water that you drink and then go into the living room. There’s a computer in there that you hadn’t really gotten on before and ignored as you walked past to the front door.   
You have to stand on your toes to reach the deadbolt but you unlocked the door with little trouble before opening it. You walk outside into the front yard. The sky was bright, birds were singing, and autumn flowers were blooming.   
You take a deep breath of cool air and you can feel goose bumps rise on your arms. You take several bare footed steps outside onto the paved walkway, there was a fine coating of frost over everything outside.  
The peaceful autumn morning fills you with DETERMINATION.  
“HUMAN?” Papyrus’ voice surprises you.  
You turn around and you see the tall skeleton standing in the doorway with a perplexed expression.  
“YOU’RE AWAKE VERY EARLY.” Papyrus says. “WHY ARE YOU OUTSIDE? SCHOOL ISN’T FOR ANOTHER TWO HOURS.”  
You run up to him, suddenly feeling anxious at the mention of school, and hug him tightly. You tell him that you don’t want to go to school today and that you want to spend the day with him.  
“I SEE.” Papyrus’ confusion fades away into happiness. “I UNDERSTAND, I AM THE GREAT PAPYRIS AFTER ALL, BUT YOU MUST GO TO SCHOOL HUMAN. LADY TORIEL WILL NOT BE PLEASED IF YOU MISS TOO MUCH.”  
You look up at him with large eyes and ask again.   
“WELL…” Papyrus’ resolve began to fade. “YOU DID GET HURT YESTERDAY, AND ALPHYS SAID THAT YOU NEEDED TO REST IN ORDER TO FEEL BETTER…” He grins widely. “I THINK THAT IT WILL BE OKAY IF YOU STAY HOME TODAY.”  
You grin, relief and triumph filling your heart, and you follow Papyrus back inside. You help Papyrus prepare breakfast pancakes, which he usually only made on the weekends, a recipe Toriel had taught him.  
Surprisingly, Sans wandered into the kitchen on his own. He still seems tired, there were dark circles under his eyes, but he was awake.  
“What’s the occasion?” Sans yawns after eyes the tall stack of pancakes. “It’s not Saturday, is it?”  
“THE HUMAN WOULD LIKE TO STAY HOME FROM SCHOOL TODAY.” Papyrus tells him happily, three plates stacked high with pancakes on the table. “SO I WANTED TO MAKE SOMETHING SPECIAL. THESE PAN CAKES THAT LADY TORIEL TAUGHT ME TO MAKE ARE EXCELLENT, THOUGH STILL NOT AS GOOD AS MY SPAGHETTI.”  
“Ah,” Sans cocks an eye at you as you tuck into your stack. “And why are you staying home from school?”  
You tell Sans that you really want to spend time with them, which isn’t a lie because you do.  
“Uhuh.” Sans seems suspicious before looking at the clock. “Well, hate to break it to you kiddo, but you’re going to school today. So eat up and get dressed.”   
Your jaw drops and you look at Papyrus pleadingly.  
“NOW SANS.,” Papyrus begins. “THE HUMAN HAD A VERY ROUGH DAY YESTERDAY, I’M SURE THAT ONE MORE DAY AT HOME WON’T HURT.”  
“Frisk is fine and going to school.” Sans said firmly. “Besides, I never said you’d be going alone.”  
You frown, confused, and ask him what he means.  
“Oh, Paps and I are going with you today.” Sans grins widely at you.   
You can feel the blood drain from your face as Papyrus gives off an excited yelp.  
You become upset but there didn’t seem like there was anything you could do to change Sans’ mind. Not that it stopped you from trying. You tried to persuade, talk, ask, and even flirt your way out of school but you couldn’t change his mind. When you had finished your meal the smaller skeleton walked you back to your room, pulled out the clothes you needed, and took your backpack with him into the living room where he told you he’d be waiting.   
You grudgingly get dressed and meet the skeletons in the living room. It was hard to stay mad at Sans for long though, especially when he kept making awful puns that just made you burst out laughing. This was only exacerbated by Papyrus’ outbursts at his brother’s poor jokes. Papyrus carried you on his shoulders as he had sometimes done when you had been in the Underground. The three of you took the long way to school, taking your time to stop and even chatting with Alphys and Undyne as you crossed them on your way out of New Home towards your school.  
On the walk you notice several monster children running the opposite way with back packs of their own and you ask your friends where they’re going.  
“Toriel has a temporary school set up for the monster children.” Sans tells you. “The building that they’re working on across the street from our house will be the actual school once it’s finished. I think Toriel wants to teach there.”   
You ask why you can’t just go to the temporary school with the monster children.  
“THAT WOULD BE A WONDERFUL!” Papyrus grins widely. “PERHAPS WE SHOULD TALK TO LADY TORIEL WHEN HER AND KING ASGORE RETURNS!”  
“Once the schools finished sure.” Sans agrees. “But, for now, you’re going to this one.”   
You begin to feel anxious as you get closer to the school and you grow quiet. You don’t know why but you feel the urge to run as Papyrus sets you on the ground. You almost do but Sans and Papyrus each take one of your hands in theirs and walk you confidently up to the school. They don’t hesitate as the crowd of children move to either side of you and your friends. You glimpse Jeremiah in the crowd and see that the older boy is pale watching you walk into the building.  
Once inside Papyrus looks around in delight, seeing the colorful drawings and notice boards.  
“Which rooms yours?” Sans asks.   
You lead them to your home room, you’re early and the first bell hadn’t even rung yet.  
“Oh, Frisk!” Ms. Pepper seemed surprised to see you as her eyes quickly dart over Sans and Papyrus. “And you must be Sans and Papyrus.” She smiles at the two skeletons and walks up to them. “Frisk has written several wonderful things about you both during writing class.” She shuffles through some papers at her desk and pulls out a paper full of practice paragraphs that you’d had to do several days prior and hands it to Papyrus. “Frisk is a wonderful child to have in my class.”   
“Yeah,” Sans grins easily. “We like them too.”   
“YOU WROTE THIS ABOUT ME?!” Papyrus looks down at you with tears in his eyes, holding the paper to you.   
You look at the page, you’d forgotten what exactly you’d written. You read “Papyrus is great. He’s tall, strong, and nice. I love his spaghetti very much, it is my favorite dinner.”   
You nod and Papyrus scoops you up into a tight hug.  
“I AM SO TOUCHED HUMAN!” Papyrus cries in joy as he spins you around energetically.  
“We had been going over commas that day and how to use them.” Ms. Pepper explains.  
“So, I wanna bone up on what all goes on at school all day.” Sans tells Ms. Pepper. “Mind giving me a rattle?”  
“Well,” Ms. Pepper looked at her planner. “In reading and writing we’re going to write letters, math we’re going to work on multiplying large numbers, social studies we’re going to talk about different countries and their traditions, in science we’re going to go over the states of matter, and then it’s music.”   
“Ah.” Sans seems interested in this. “Mind if my brother and I hang out? We’ll be quiet as the grave.”   
“Oh, you’d like to observe?” Ms Pepper seems pleased by this. “Of course, parents are always welcome to. You know… Most of my students may not have seen monsters before, perhaps we can make this a special lesson.” She pauses uncertainly. “Although, they may be less than tactful…”  
“Eh, no worries.” Sans shrugs. “We got thick skin.”   
The first bell rang and you take your seat quickly while Ms. Pepper pulls two chairs near her desk for Sans and Papyrus to sit at. You’d seen some parents occasionally come and observe classes before so you thought that it would be alright. You hopes at any rate. Just as students began to file into the room, laughing and talking with each other, Papyrus waved at you excitedly and Sans grinned at you.  
You smile nervously back at them before staring blankly at your desk.   
The final bell tolled, meaning that all students needed to be in their home rooms.  
“Alright class, I have a very special treat for you all today.” Ms. Pepper says, gesturing for everyone to be quiet and listen. “As I’m sure all of you know, about a year ago monsters re-emerged from beneath Mount Ebbott where they had been trapped for a very long time.” She smiles as the class goes mute, all eyes on the skeletons sitting at the front of the classroom. “Today, Misters Papyrus and Sans the Skeletons will join us and have been kind enough to agree to answer any questions that you might have for them. Please remember to be polite and courteous to our special guests today.”  
Your teacher began by going over the history of the Monsters and Humans, letting Sans and Papyrus answer questions from your classmates as she did.  
“Why was there a war?” One classmate asked.  
“Eh,” Sans answers this one shrugging. “No-body really remembers. It all happened so fast and no one was exactly talkative with one another.”  
“Why didn’t people talk instead?” Another child asks.  
You watch Sans’ eyes go black and, though he was still smiling, he didn’t answer.  
“WE DON’T REALLY KNOW.” Papyrus says uncertainly. “IT WAS A VERY LONG TIME AGO TINY HUMAN.”  
“Do monsters eat kids?” A timid voice asked.  
“Nah, too many bones.” Sans chuckles jokingly. “We eat the same stuff you do.”  
“How do skeletons eat?” Someone questioned as you begin to look up from your desk.  
“WITH OUR MOUTHS.” Papyrus seems confused by the question.   
“But, you’re skeletons, do you have tummies?” Molly beside you asks. “How can you eat without tummies?”  
“OH THAT’S EASY!” Papyrus says excitedly. “MAGIC!”   
The class went silent before an onslaught of questions erupted. Within minutes your classmates had risen from their seats and sat cross legged on the floor of the classroom with your friends. You nervously stay at your desk until Ms. Pepper comes over and walks you to sit with your class. As you’re guided to the floor where everyone was sitting you go blue and float over to sit between Sans and Papyrus as the smaller skeleton’s eye winked blue.  
Your classmates questions continue as they are awed by Sans’s magic that had floated you over to them.   
The entire morning of classes got spent with your friends and your class talking. It was different and your teacher seemed quite happy to let the class divert from it’s usual course.  
“Alright that’s all the time we have for today.” Ms. Pepper said as the lunch bell rang. “Everyone, say thank you to Mr. Papyrus and Mr. Sans for taking the time to speak with us today.”  
“Thank you.” Your classmates said in unison.   
“Now, everyone grab your lunches and line up to head to the cafeteria.” Ms. Pepper claps her hands together with a wide smile.   
“Can Papyrus and Sans come with us to lunch?” Greg asks. “I want to see more magic tricks!”   
There was a chorus of agreement from your classmates and Ms. Pepper looks to your dunkles questioningly.  
“NYEHEH! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WOULD LOVE TO JOIN ALL OF YOU!” Papyrus says happily. “BUT… I HAVE COOKING LESSONS WITH UNDYNE TODAY AND THE GREAT PAPYRUS DOES NOT BACK OUT OF MY WORD!”  
All eyes turned hopefully to Sans and you glance up at him, internally both hoping and dreading that he would stay.  
“Sorry kiddos.” Sans says. “I got my own things to do, but you won’t be bonely.” He winks at the group. “You got any questions just ask Frisk, after all they know almost as much about us as we do.”   
Before you could say anything to the contrary you were suddenly surrounded by your classmates. It was just like it had been your first day of school again, when people had actually talked to you and you had thought for a fleeting few hours you could makes friends. But this time you felt overwhelmed as everyone pressed in around you.   
“Class!” Ms. Pepper clears her throat and claps her hands together to get everyone’s attention. “Go get your lunches and line up to walk to the lunchroom. You can all talk to Frisk over recess!”   
Your classmates grudgingly did as they were told and you made a straight line for Sans and Papyrus.  
You tell them that you want to go home.  
“No can do kiddo.” Sans pats your head before smiling up at Papyrus. “Go on ahead bro, you’ll be late at this rate. Don’t go giving Undyne a bone to pick with you.”   
“OF COURSE.” Papyrus kneels down and hugs you tightly. “DO NOT FRET HUMAN, TONIGHT I WILL MAKE YOU MY FAMOUS SPAGHETTI FOR DINNER! I’LL ASK UNDYNE AND ALPHYS AND METTATON TO COME OVER FOR IT TOO!”  
“Please don’t invite Mettaton…” Sans mutters as Papyrus leaves and you take your shorter dunkle’s hand.  
“Mr. Sans, if you wouldn’t mind, it’s time for lunch and Frisk still needs to grab their lunch box.” Ms. Pepper clears her throat and gestures to your class who has lined up patiently.  
“Of course.” Sans pats your head. “Go on kiddo, don’t want you turning into skin and bones on us. Might work for Papyrus and me but I don’t think it’d work for you.”  
You take your lunch and follow your class to the cafeteria. You don’t sit alone today like you usually do as your other classmates sit nearer you to ask questions about your dunkles.  
You look around the cafeteria, trying to spot Jeremiah and his friends who would usually torment you over recess if you didn’t hide from them, but your eyes fell on Sans.  
The skeleton was talking with Ms. Pepper, your homeroom teacher’s face somber, and they seem to be having a serious conversation.   
You wonder what they could be talking about, but you decide to turn back to your lunch.  
You resolve to ask Toriel if you can go to the monster school when she gets home and you are determined that you won’t take no for an answer.   
Your new found drive to get out of your current school fills you with DETERMINATION.  
“Hey kiddo,” San’s hand on the top of your head startles you from your thoughts and you look up at him curiously. “I gotta go now, I’ll be by when school’s out to pick you up.”  
You nod and hug him tightly before returning to your lunch. Just as you finish the sandwich that Papyrus had packed you, made with cheese and bacon between two pancakes, you see Jeremiah glaring at you from across the lunch room.  
You try to hide over recess and manage to lose your classmates by running around the side of the school. You think that you’re safe from your bullies there, they hadn’t found your hiding spot there so far.  
“There’s the freak!” You hear Jeremiah’s familiar taunt.  
You look up and see him and his two friends running towards you.  
You get up and start running. You try to take an alley between the gym building and the main school to lose them but you find it’s a dead end.   
You’re cornered by the middle schoolers.  
“Did you all see the freaks that came to school today?” Jeremiah laughed. “No wonder Frisk is such a loser! No one but freaks like them would ever want to hang out with you!”  
You stand your ground, your back against the wall, and notice a large stick on the ground.  
You tell them that you don’t care and that they should just leave you alone.  
“Oh, the freak wants to be left alone?” They take turns taunting you. “Just like your parents left you alone? I remember you. Your mom and dad were in the paper that morning because your trashy trailer caught on fire.”  
You hear a voice in your head asking you why you don’t just fight back.  
You remain silent as the three boys move in on you.  
The voice asks you if this is what you want, to always be afraid and tormented.  
You’re shoved and fall on your butt.  
No, you decide, you’re not going to be pushed around any more.  
You dive for the stick and grab it.   
You dive at Jeremiah and shove him back.  
You swing the stick at them violently and crack it hard against one of the other boys’ faces.  
You move to lung at the other bully you are suddenly frozen. You all are surrounded by a faintly blue light.   
“Well, well, what have we here?” Sans’ voice comes from behind you. “Three against one? Not a very fair fight.” The skeleton comes to stand beside you. “But, then again, from what I’ve seen you lot don’t like to play fair.”   
You feel the blue around you abate and you look at Sans to see his left eye is flaming blue.   
“These the brats that have been giving you a hard time Frisk?” Sans asks you, his voice strangely calm and his grin wide.  
You nod.  
“Good, I’ve got a bone to pick with you all then.” Sans says, walking towards the paralyzed boys. “You brats ever, and I mean ever, touch one hair on my kid’s head again and you’re going to be answering to me.” You can see that the middle schoolers all looked terrified as Sans moves slowly closer to them. “Any one hurts my kid and you’ll all be in for a very bad time. I’m being generous today and giving you a warning, don’t give me a reason to make good on it. Capiche?”   
The bullies suddenly fall in a heap, Sans’ magic that had held them immobile gone. The boys bolt out of the alley and run away as fast as they could.  
You stare after them and then look down at the stick in your hand. Why had you attacked them?   
You drop the stick, trembling, as you remembered the last time you’d gone after someone like you’d just gone after the bullies.   
“You alright kid?” Sans asks turning to you with a concerned expression.   
You shake your head, trembling. You tell him that you’re afraid you’d hurt them just as memories of fighting the monsters that were now your friends race in your mind.  
“Hey, come here.” Sans says gently, opening his arms for a hug.  
You rush to your friend and cling tightly to him as you try to push back the memories. You try to push back the feelings of satisfaction that you’d gotten from striking your bullies.   
“I’m not going anywhere kiddo.” Sans assures you. “Come on, I want to have a word with your teacher again.”  
Sans takes you back across the playground and inside the school. You remain silent as Sans tells the school security officer about the bullies and asks that something be done about the three older boys. The security office is skeptical at first but checks with other children to see if it made sense. Apparently other children told the officer that Jeremiah and his crew were known for bullying younger kids. Your homeroom teacher and the bullies’ teacher is called and Sans is assured that the boys would be sitting in detention for a while and that their parents would be made aware of their actions.  
You return to class silently that afternoon after sitting with Sans in the Principle’s office going over the issue. No on in class talks to you and it seems as though the other students, that had just that very morning been so eager to ask you questions, avoided you more than usual.  
You hear some of them whisper that the boy you’d hit with the stick needed stitches and your guilt grows.  
Sans was waiting outside your homeroom when the last bell tolled and walked you home.  
You were able to keep up a normal and even happy front so that no one would worry at supper and that evening as you struggled through your homework.  
That night though, as you tried to sleep, you couldn’t escape the nightmares of past runs. The feeling of power and satisfaction of the monsters turning to dust beneath your blade. The horror of watching yourself murder each and every friend who you loved so much now.   
You don’t sleep much that night before you wake up. You cry softly, terrified of what you’d done yet again. But this time you couldn’t RESET, you’d promised Sans, and there was no taking back hurting the other kid. You stay awake most of that night, fighting off sleep, feeling everything you had done in the past crawling up your back. 


	6. Chapter 6

You wonder what’s worse, being bullied or being treated like you don’t exist at all. You supposed the bullying was worse because you were constantly on your guard back then and you had to lie to everyone at home just to make sure nothing bad happened. But being ignored like you were now seemed to hurt more than being punched.  
Every morning for the rest of the week one of your friends walks you to school, all the way up to your homeroom where they make sure you’re with Ms. Pepper before heading on their own way. Every afternoon you find one of your friends waiting for you at the front desk just after the final bell rings. Jeremiah and his bullies had left you alone ever since the incident, all three of them were still serving detention, and rumors were abound as to what happened. You do your best to ignore the rumors, what good would it do for you to listen to them? Not that anyone would tell you them anyway, no one would get within so much as three feet of you if they could help it.   
After Sans had caught the bullies red handed he’d had a long talk with everyone, everyone except you. You think that he thought you were asleep, he and Papyrus had tucked you into bed and you had begun to doze until the dreams had come. When you’d woken from the nightmare you meant to go to the kitchen to get some water, but the angry voice of Undyne had stopped you in the hall.  
“What do you mean that some punks have been ganging up on our runt?!” Undyne had been furious, staring hard down at Sans. “I’m going to skin them!”   
“Keep your voice down you’re your gonna wake up the kid.” Sans had said calmly to her. “And no need to, I already shook up their bones a bit. I doubt they’ll try something again, but that’s not the only issue.”  
You stood silent in the shadows of the hallway, listening to your friends.  
“I’ve already talked to Tori about this and she agreed that I should let you all in on what’s up.” Sans sighs. “So the kid didn’t exactly have a good life before they fell to the Underground, apparently their parents were into some bad stuff, and they got sent to an orphanage as a result which wasn’t much better. Their homeroom teacher explained that the kiddo went through some rough times, even before they fell. I don’t know why they haven’t told us anything about it but I know that it really rattles them up when someone brings it up to them.” He pauses. “So I don’t think any of us should try to talk to them about it unless they bring it up. I also think that someone should keep an eye on them, at least until all of this garbage from their bullies dies down. Remind’em that we care about them and that we’re here for them. I don’t know how many of you have picked up on it but the kid’s gotten into the habit of lying about certain things to us and I’m getting tired of it.”  
“Wh-Why would they l-lie to us?” Alphys stutters, the surprise riding their voice.  
“I think that they’re trying to protect us.” Sans responds. “But, tibia honest, I’m worried that they’ll hide important things from us if it keeps up. So I think we should all do our best to keep an eye on them, at least until things settle down.”  
There’s a murmur of agreement.  
“SANS…” Papyrus’ voice finally breaks the tension and you can feel your chest growing tight. “DON’T YOU THINK WE SHOULD JUST ASK THE HUMAN ABOUT THIS? I MEAN, THEY’RE OUR FRIEND AND HAVE NEVER HURT US. I THINK THAT THEY JUST NEED TO BE REMINDED TO COME TO US FOR HELP.”  
You can feel the tears filling your eyes, if only he knew how many times you’d done so much worse than just hurt them.  
“I’ve been trying to talk to them about it but it hasn’t been working.” Sans sighs again. “Every time I try to bring any of this up to them they just clam up. They get this thick shell around them and shut down.”  
“You’re obviously not doing it the right way then Sansy Wansy.” Mettaton pouts and then becomes confident. “Come on Pappy dear, you and I will talk to them about all of this then.”   
You think about rushing back to your room but you find that your legs are stiff. You wait around the corner for them to find you.  
“Let them sleep metal butt!” Sans snaps at them. “They’ve had a rough enough time lately.”   
“Oh please, they love it when I come to see them.” Mettaton laughs him off, you see he’s walking around the hall with Papyrus’ in tow. “And it’s Friday, they can sleep late tomorrow.”  
“Mettaton I’m serious!” Sans snaps just as the robot and both skeletons round the corner.  
All eyes fall on you, standing silent with drying tears on your cheeks.  
“Oh, darling what are you doing out of bed?” Mettaton seems flustered before moving to pick you up.   
You step back, your heart beatings fast.   
Would real friends have secret meetings behind your back, a voice wonders in your mind.  
“Come now darling, I was just thinking that we could all use some ice cream.” Mettaton smiles widely at you, holding his arms out wide for you. “Whatcha say?”  
You look up at Papyrus who smiles brightly down at you and then at Sans who’s usual grin was gone.  
You tell them that you’re tired and you just want some water.  
“ARE YOU SURE HUMAN?” Papyris asks. “WE CAN DO SOME PUZZLES AND STAY UP LATE TO LOOK AT THE STARS.”   
You tell him that it’s cold out at night now and you want to go to bed as you quietly walk past them.   
You casually greet Undyne and Alphys who both seem paler than usual.   
You ignore it and get yourself a glass of water from the kitchen.  
You drink it deliberately, DETERMINED to not to discuss what you’d just heard with them.  
Once you’ve emptied your glass you rinse it and put it in the drying rack.  
You tell them each good night as you calmly walk past them to bed.  
That night, when the shadow that had been appearing in your window showed up you didn’t hide from it. You wondered who it is and wonder why they keep coming. Perhaps it’s Napsiblook playing a trick on you?  
You walk up to the window and stare out it directly at the shadow with a wide smile.  
Get away from that thing, a voice in the back of your head snaps, get away from it!   
You wonder when you started to hear this voice in your head, is it yours or someone else’s?  
The smiling shadow raises a hand to the window. In the center of it’s hand, where the palm should be, you see that there is a large hole that lets the stars shine through.  
The voice in the back of your head begins to shouts angrily and it sounds like water rushing in your ears as you unlock the window.   
You push the window open and smile at the ghostly figure.  
It moves into the room, squeezing through the window and plopping to the ground.  
“********************************************************************” It spoke to you in a broken voice.  
You cock your head to the side, you vaguely remember this monster but you couldn’t quite place them.   
You tell them that you know you know them but you don’t remember from where and that you didn’t understand them.  
“************************************************************************************************.” It’s white face, like both a fractured mask and a melting skull, smiles up at you as one of it’s hands drifts up to you detached from it’s body. “*******************************************************************************************************.”  
The hand rests on your forehead and you feel your room spin around you.  
You remember meeting this monster before, in one of the first timelines you had gone through. Room 269, the number sears into you head. You’d met him there the first time.  
“My apologies child.” You hear his voice in your head, the cryptic language he spoke ringing in your ears as the room warps around you. “Please come see me when you can. I have much I want to discuss.”   
You begin to feel nauseous as your bedroom fades to room 269 and then back. You lose your balance and fall, nothingness surrounding you.   
“Find me there.” Gaster’s voice rings in your head. “When you’re ready. When you are Determined.”  
“Kid?” Someone is talking to you. “Come on kid, wake up. It’s not cool to out sleep me.”   
You yawn and force your eyes open, Sans is beside your bed grinning casually as he gently shakes you awake.  
“Jeez kid, this isn’t like you.” He teases. “Better be careful or everyone will start to call you a sack of lazy bones too.”   
You tiredly smile and tell him that you were up late.  
“Yeah, I noticed.” Sans says, sitting beside you on the bed. “About last night…. Just how much did you hear kid?”   
You frown, your mind still on Gaster, then remember your friends secret meeting.  
You tell him that won’t lie to them about anything again and that you’re sorry you’ve been worrying them.  
“It’s alright kiddo.” Sans says, his arm around your shoulders and pressing you against his side. “We just care about you and you’ve been lookin’ bonely lately.”  
You giggle and tell him that you are lonely at school but not at home. You avoid telling him anything about your life before the Underground but instead tell him that you’re the happiest you’ve ever been with everyone.   
“Aw, shucks kid.” Sans chuckles. “Gonna makes me cry if you keep on being so sappy.” He ruffles your hair with a wide grin. “Just promise me you’ll stop keeping secrets from us? You’ve really been worrying us.”  
You hesitate and Sans’ eyes narrow on you before you quickly promise.  
“Good.” His grin returns. “Come on baby bones, Papyrus was pretty upset that you didn’t wake up for breakfast. He’ll be sounding alarms if you don’t come eat lunch. Don’t need any docs I’ll have to crack skulls with coming to the window.”  
You giggle and ask him why someone hadn’t just come and woken you up.  
“We did, or tried to.” Sans cocked an eye at you as you both walk from your bedroom. “Papyrus and Mettaton were both at it for half an hour. I figured you needed the sleep with all of the nightmares you’ve been having.” He pats your head knowingly as your face goes red. “About those nightmares… You can always come to one of us when they get bad. I don’t mind you waking me up for that and I don’t think anyone else here would.”  
You nod and thank him.  
You spend the day running around the reservation, playing with other monster children, and your friends intermittently. Undyne has the idea to play capture the flag and captains a team, Papyrus captains the other team. You end up on Undyne’s team, much to Mettaton’s and Papyrus’ dismay. A single flag was too simple for her liking so each team hide ten flags.   
“Put this somewhere hard to find.” Undyne winks at you, giving you a flag. “Then get back here because we’re going to DESTROY THEM!” She’s all energy again, pointing at Papyrus’ team.  
“NO DESTROYING EACH OTHER!” Papyrus shouts back at her.  
Each team has fifteen minutes to hide their flag and you race off with the flag you’d been tasked with hiding. You run for the woods at the base of Mt. Ebbott and quickly look around for a good hiding spot.   
You climb up one of the trees and tie the flag there among the branches.  
Sure that no one will find your brilliant hiding spot you begin to climb back down.  
You slip and begin to fall.   
You brace yourself to hit the ground but something wraps around you and you’re gentle lowered down.  
You look around, confused, and wonder who of your friends caught you.  
Your eyes fall on a small golden flower as vines return to the ground around you.   
“Howdy!” Flowey the flower grins up at you, much as he had done when you had first met him.   
You’re hesitant at first but remember that this wasn’t just Flowey but also Asriel.   
You smile down at him and thank him for catching you.   
“No problem partner.” He grins at you. “Soooo…. This is the surface?” He looks around boredly. “It sucks.”   
You frown but hear Monster Kid calling to you.  
You tell Flowey that you’ll catch up with him later before running to join the group again.   
Your team comes so close to winning but, in the last few minutes, Sans decides that he’s on Papyrus’ team and appears with the flag you hid.   
“You dirty rotten cheater!” Undyne snaps angrily at Sans, her competitive side showing. “You can’t just decide to join the game when you’d been napping the entire time!”   
“But I was feeling bonely.” Sans teased. “Come on scales, you can’t honestly be mad about this can you?”  
You’re sitting on the curb with MK and some of the other monster kids, snacking on icecream that Mettaton and Papyrus had gotten you all from the Nice Cream man, watching Sans masterfully dodge Undyne’s various attacks.   
You look around and smile, you feel content surrounded by everyone and think that today had been very good. Glancing around you see a little golden flower pop up between two houses and wave a leaf at you.   
You smile and wave back at Flowey, wondering if you could trust him now. He was Asriel after all. Maybe because you’d reached Asriel in the final battle a part of him was still there.  
You smile, you’d try to get through to Flowey when you could. But for today you just wanted to spend time with your friends right here.  
You look over and feel something stir inside you.  
Feeling so happy with your friends and family fills you with DETERMINATION.  
You race up to Undyne and shout tag before running as fast as you can down the street.   
“GET BACK HERE RUNT!” Undyne immediately gives chase. “YOU THINK YOU CAN TAG ME AND GET AWAY WITH THAT?!”  
You run until you’re out of breath and are quickly caught by Undyne who noogies you so good that you’re dizzy.  
That evening you all come to Undyne’s and Alphys’ house where you watch anime and eat supper. Later in the night you watch the stars with Sans, Papyrus, and Mettaton from your back yard.  
If this day could just go on forever, you think to yourself, it would be a perfect world.  
But, even after such a perfect day, the nightmares won’t leave you alone…  
 


	7. Chapter 7

Toriel and Asgore returned from their travels safely and for a weekend that was enough to make you forget about your worries. Both of them were unhappy about the bullying that you had endured but Sans had assured them that he’d taken care of it. Toriel was insistent about making a meeting with the Principal about the issue though and Asgore agreed.   
You told your goat parents that you’d really like to go to the monster school with the other monster children and Toriel promises you that as soon as the school is built you can go there. Every day you ask Sans or Papyrus to walk you but the construction site after school to see the progress being made. It wouldn’t be done until Spring, they always remind you, but that doesn’t stop you from asking to see your future school anyway.   
You are still completely ignored at school and you still have nightmares every night, but you’re slowly becoming used to it. Your friends knew and there were very few times when you would forget that you were still wanted and cared for. Beside, you didn’t have to go all day every day at school alone.  
“Pffff!” Flowey sticks out his tongue at you. “Don’t go all soft on me!”  
You giggle, you’d known before you told Flowey about how special you felt having so many friends with him included that he’d react this way. You’re sitting at the edge of the playground near where a patch of woods that lead to the forests around Mt. Ebbot were. Flowey had met you here every day since the Monday after you’d seen him.   
It was nice, having a friend to talk to over recess, and you actually looked forward to seeing him. Even if he was really short tempered.  
“So, what, now you’re going to tell me that life is all rainbows and unicorns?” Flowey asks sarcastically. “And that that smiley trashbag is just absolutely delightful. Pah!” He groans. “Jeez, you’re so easy to please. You know, this is why people push you around so much, you’re too simple. You just let people walk all over you like a doormat.”  
You shrug and point out that he liked hanging out with you despite being a doormat.   
“Yeah, well…” Flowey paused before snapping again. “I’m being nice to you because unlike everyone else here you’re actually, slightly, interesting!”  
You ask him how so.  
“RESET.” His smile turns wicked and his eyes go large and black. “You have all the power here Frisk. You want to go and slaughter all of those kids over there?” He gestures to the playground full of children with a root. “You can and then just reset like nothing happened.”  
You frown and shake your head. You tell him that you promised Sans you would never reset again.  
“And you really think he believes you?” Flowey asks you dryly. “That smiley trashbag doesn’t trust you as far as he can throw you!”   
You frown and say that you think Sans trusts you, but there were just some issues you both had.  
“Like him killing you 97 times during your last genocide run?” Flowey asked with a wicked smirk. “Or is it that you killed him four different times?”  
You frown and go quiet, bringing your knees to your chest. After a while Flowey sighs, his petals wilting a bit.  
“I’m sorry… Frisk…” Flowey mutters softly. “I know... I’m just… The resets and stuff, they’re all just life for me… I know you’re too soft and actually care about the stuff that happened in them…”  
You smile sadly. This was another reason why you want to be friends with Flowey. He knew about the resets and you could openly talk with him about them.  
Not that you couldn’t talk to Sans about them but you both would get upset when certain runs got brought up. But Flowey didn’t care. He’d listened and even laughed off the times you’d killed him, joking about how many times you’d died because of him.   
It was wrong, and you knew you shouldn’t laugh, but sometimes when the nightmares kept you up so late… You were so tired… Your mind went to dark places… Being able to joke with Flowey and laugh about all the times you’d died and reset… It made it more bearable.   
The recess bell tolls and you wait a few minutes as all of the other children run inside.  
You ask Flowey if he’d be there tomorrow at the same time.  
“Well, it’s not like I have anything better to do.” Flowey rolled his eyes boredly. “Honestly, everything’s so boring since all the monsters came above ground. I guess I’ll be here for you tomorrow… Idiot.”  
You go to your last three classes of the day. There was a Science Fair supposed to take place after winter break which was still weeks away but the project forms were handed out and you wonder if you could convince Alphys to help you with your project. In PE your class plays baseball but you don’t play because no team picked you. The gym teacher would have just placed you on a team but you tell them that you have a headache and wanted to sit out anyway.   
“Alright, go to the nurse’s office then.” The gym teacher said with a sigh.  
You walk to the nurse’s office but find no one there so, shrugging, you go back to your homeroom and grab your things. You begin to walk home alone for the first time in weeks. You take your time, wondering what to do.   
You pull out your cellphone, thinking to text Toriel and tell her that you’re coming home.  
“Howdy!” Flowey is in the grass beside you. “I didn’t think you had it in you, cutting class early?”  
You smile a little mischievously and tell him that no one would notice you gone from there.   
“Then…” Flowey says, a wide grin spreading across his face. “You want to do anything before your little body guards show up?”  
You think, look at the time on your phone, then smile. You tell Flowey that you have one hour to kill before you need to be back at the school to meet your friends.  
“Fine by me!” Flowey climbed onto your backpack using his vines. “What are we gonna do?”  
You ask him if he knows how to get to room 269 underground.  
“Pfff.” Flowey sticks his tongue out at you. “Unlike you I know everything there is to know about the Underground!”  
You tell him you’re relieved that he knows where room 269 is and ask him if he thinks that there’s enough time to get there and back?  
“Right now?” His voice cracked a bit. “Heck no you dummy! We have less than an hour! You really think you can get back into the Underground, get to your stupid room, and back down here before Smiley Trashbag or one of the other freaks notice you’re gone?”  
You sigh, it makes sense. You ask instead if flowey would walk around the woods with you for a while.  
“What else do I have to do dummy?!” Flowey snapped.   
You walk into the woods at the back of the school and ask Flowey about his time in the underground. Snide comments aside Flowey had some interesting times down there if his stories were true. You learn that a fair share of Flowey’s resets were because of Sans, hence why the flower avoided him. He tells you about some of his kinder runs through the Underground.   
You find a nice clearing at the base of the incline and set your backpack down. You lay back against your backpack and listen as Flowey tells you stories about some of the resets he’d done, somethings that he’d wondered about and still wanted to try, and everything in between.  
“Are there any save points up here?” Flowey asks.  
You tell him about the ping that had happened the first day you all had made it to the surface but that you hadn’t actually found any of the golden stars.  
You hadn’t meant to, goodness knows that you hadn’t meant to fall asleep. It was just… between Flowey’s stories and the pure bliss of skipping PE so that you didn’t have to get tripped or kicked or otherwise indirectly hit again you had felt so comfy.   
When you’d lain down with Flowey beside you the afternoon sun had been bright and shining. You’d had time enough to kill, almost a half hour before you had to start walking back, so you’d thought it would be fine.  
Stars were the last thing you’d expected to see when you opened your eyes next.   
You sit up quickly and see flowey curled in your book bag contently sleeping. You look at your phone as dread broils in your stomach.   
Your heart drops as you realize your phone had gotten turned off in your backpack.   
Your heart is in your throat as you count over three dozen missed calls and see that it’s nearly 7pm at night.  
You grab you’re backpack and throw it on while you run out of the woods. Nearly as soon as you start running your phone rings again; it’s Sans.  
“Where are you?!” Sans’ voice yells through the phone the moment you accept the call.  
Panting, still running, you try to explain but it all comes out as a panicked jumble. You can barely think as you try to race your way out of the woods let alone form a coherent explanation. The entire time Sans is practically yelling into the phone.  
“What’s going on?!” Sans demands, panic entering his voice. “Where are you?! Are you running?!”  
You trip and tumble down the incline you’d been racing down. You let out a yelp as you feel something scrape your leg.   
Your hoodie gets caught by something as you tumble and you hear it tear. The phone flings from your hand, Sans’ voice still yelling through it, and you sprawl in the dirt.   
You’re dazed and can hear Flowey’s muffled cursing from your backpack. You start to apologize profusely, tears filling your eyes, and you look around in the dark.   
You can make out the vague outlines of trees all around you and the canopy above blocks out all star light.   
A blue light bursts near you and you scramble back, clutching your backpack to your chest.   
“Kid?” Sans’ voice calls out from the direction of the bluelight. “Kid!” He calls, looking around.   
Flowey goes still in your bag and silent at Sans’ voice.  
You stumble to your feet and, leaves and sticks crunching underfoot.   
Before you can move towards the skeleton he’s in front of you, crushing you to his ribcage.  
“What the heck happened to you?!” Sans demands, pulling back and looking you over. His left eye was glowing bright blue and illuminating you in it’s light. “We’ve been looking for you for hours kid!”   
You begin to tremble and the tears that had filled your eyes finally fell. Sans’ eyes went wide and he notices how disheveled you are.   
He crushes you to him and in a flash you’re standing in your living room.   
“Frisk!” Toriel’s voice breaks the tension first.   
Sans releases you but you’re immediately wrapped in Toriel’s arms as she picks you up and holds you close.   
You notice tears in her eyes.   
You’re not even put down before Asgore then Mettaton get a hold of you. They’re making so much noise, you can’t distinguish one voice from the other. Toriel and Asgore are asking you where you’ve been and what happened to you, Mettaton is telling you loudly how relieved he is that you’re alright, Sans is dialing and talking on his phone to someone.  
You feel dizzy trying to keep up with everyone but it’s so much, too much. You break free of Mettaton’s hold and run to your room amid their surprised reactions.  
Once in your room you close the door and, leaning against it, sink to the floor.  
It takes you a few moments to calm down, your head pounding, before you can even think to lock the door.  
A muffled noise from your backpack startles you and you open your bag to find Flowey.  
The flower is nauseous and disoriented, some of his petals bruised, but seems otherwise alright.  
“What the heck?!” Flowey demands. “What the heck was all that about Frisk?!”  
You shush him, unsure of how everyone outside would react to him.   
Not more than a minute later a gentle knock on the door behind you makes you jump.  
“Frisk, my child?” Toriel’s voice comes through the door. “Are you alright?”  
You and Flowey exchange panicked looks. Flowey gestures for you to do something.  
“Please, were all very worried about you.” Toriel says, the knob shaking slightly though it was locked. “Please come out.”   
You tell her that you’re fine and you can hear other voices outside.   
You look at Flowey then at the door.  
You whisper to the flower that he needs to hide and puts him, with your entire book bag, under your bed. Just as you adjust your blankets to cover all traces of Flowey and your bag the door knob glows blue.  
You stand up and away from the bed just as the lock clicks and the door opens.   
Everyone is standing in the hall looking in at you.  
The guilt finally crushes you as the worry on all of their faces stab you in your very heart. You burst into tears and run into Toriel’s arms.  
You apologize constantly through your tears, trying desperately to explain that you hadn’t meant to fall asleep. You hadn’t meant to worry everyone. You’d just been tired and had thought you’d wake up in time to meet them at the school. You told Toriel about your headache and getting dismissed from PE.   
It all comes out in a rush that leaves you breathless and trembling. Toriel holds you close and comforts you as you cry.   
You tell her how bad you feel and how you’re afraid that they’re angry at you. You apologize a dozen more times for worrying them. You tell them that you didn’t know that your phone had been turned off and that you hadn’t meant to scare them.   
“Hush now my child,” Toriel sooths you, her large hand petting your head. “It’s alright now. You’re alright now. It’s all alright.”   
It takes time but, just as you hear the front door burst open and Papyrus’ loud voice ring through the house, you finally manage to calm down.  
Toriel lets you down as Asgore goes to meet the new arrivals.  
Sans is instantly beside you, holding up a small pink wrapped piece of candy.  
“Here.” He says, giving you the candy. “Should help with those.”   
You look down at yourself and see that you were in quite a state.   
Your right knee was bleeding badly, your jeans ripped, your hoodies’ sleeve over your left arm was torn open, and you had a cut over your left arm as well.   
You take the candy from Sans.  
You use Monster Candy.  
The stinging over both your cuts begin to ease and you see that the wounds are closing. You smile at Sans and hug him tightly.   
You apologize again.  
“Just…” Sans wraps his arms around you and holds you tightly. “Don’t scare us like that kid. I thought I was going to lose my skull.”   
You giggle softly and look up at him. He’s grinning at you but the dark circles under his eyes betray how tired he is.  
You tell him you’re sorry again.  
“OH MY GOD WHERE’S FRISK?!” You hear Papyrus’ voice just as the tall skeleton bowls into everyone crowding your room.   
You stand between Sans and Toriel, waving up at your tall friend.  
“FRISK YOU’RE OKAY!” Papyrus scoops you up in his arms and crushes you, literally crushes you, to his ribcage. “WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?! ARE YOU OKAY?! I COULD NEVER FORGIVE MYSELF IF SOMETHING HAPPENED TO YOU! SANS AND I WAITED SO LONG AT THE SCHOOL FOR YOU! I THOUGHT THAT SURELY SOMETHING HAD HAPPENED TO YOU! I’D BE A HORRIBLE EXCUSE FOR A BEST FRIEND IF I EVER LET ANYTHING HAPPEN TO YOU!” His eyes finally fell on your disheveled appearance and he gasps in horror. “AAAAH!” He lets out a wail of anguish and falls to his knees, still holding you. “I’M A HORRIBLE UNCLE! HOW COULD I LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU?!”  
You giggle and pat his skull. You tell him that you skipped class and took a nap in the woods.   
You tell him that you’re alright now and Sans gave you Monster Candy.  
You hug Papyrus tightly and tell him you’re sorry you scared everyone and ask him to forgive you.   
“YOU’RE OKAY?” Papyrus seems to pause before letting out a relieved sigh and spinning you around excitedly. “FRISK IS OKAY! THANK GOODNESS!”  
You laugh, feeling relieved that he didn’t hate you.  
“Papyrus let me get at that runt!” Undyne snatches you from him and begins to noogie your head painfully. “What do you think you’re doin scaring us half to death you little twerp?!”   
You struggle against the noogies but are left with an aching head and dizzy.  
“Un-Undyne!” Alphys manages to pull Undyne back. “P-Please, this i-isn’t helping!”   
You rub your head until it stops hurting. Toriel ushers everyone out of the room so that you can change, much to your relief, and tells you that supper will be ready in a bit.  
You smile and wave them off, quietly locking the door behind them.  
You crouch beside the bed and look under it.   
You apologize to Flowey and the flower glares at you.  
“What the frick Frisk?!” Flowey hisses at you. “Why did you bring me here?!”   
You tell him that you didn’t mean to, you were just afraid of Sans seeing him.  
“You better fix this!” Flowey snaps angrily.  
You promise him you will but ask him to stay quiet and hidden at least until everyone goes to sleep, then you’ll take him outside and he can go from there.  
“Kid, you almost done in there?” Sans’ voice startles you as he knocks on the door. “Come on, Alphys has some kinda anime to watch while Paps and Tori make supper.”   
You tell him you’ll be just a minute before looking back at Flowey pleadingly.   
“Fine.” The flowery glares at you.  
You quickly take off your torn clothing and change into comfy pajamas before hurrying over to the door.  
“Why’d you lock your door, again?” Sans frowns as you open the door.   
You tell him it was an accident, a habit now.  
“Yeah, I’m not buying that.” Sans says. “You don’t even remember to lock the front door in the morning when you go to school.” He stares you in the eyes. “Not hiding anything are you?”  
You quickly shake your head and insist that it was a habit.  
“Alright.” Sans grins widely, stretching his arm across your shoulders. “Come on, everyone wants to see you.”   
The evening goes pretty smooth for the most part, you eat supper with everyone and watch some anime. You worry about Flowey the entire time and use homework as an excuse to go back to your room.  
You ask Toriel if you can have a second piece of her butterscotch pie to snack on.  
“Of course my child.” Toriel seems pleased. “Do you need help slicing it?”  
You shake your head and smile up at her.  
In the kitchen you cut a piece of the pie and put it on a plate before also grabbing some of the leftover spaghetti from supper. You sneak to your bedroom, hoping you didn’t get seen.  
In your room you place the food beside the bed and pull your book bag out.  
“Took you long enough!” Flowey snaps at you angrily. “What the heck?!”  
You apologize and show him that you brought him food.   
“I’m a freaking flower and this trash is what you bring me for food?” He’s annoyed.   
You ask him if this wouldn’t work.  
“Ugh!” He sighs exasperatedly. “That’d better be Mo-Toriel’s pie!”   
You nod, relieved, and tell him it is.   
You work on homework for a little while as Flowey devours every bit of food on the plate.   
You do actually have homework to do so you struggle through what you can, but math is a miserable thing for you and you can’t seem to figure out how to do what your teacher wants you to do.   
Flowey has curled back up in your backpack, seeming to find it comfortable now that you’d emptied out all of it’s contents.   
You’d have to wait until everyone was asleep, you figure, before trying to sneak Flowey out of the house.   
Someone knocks on your door and you look up, quickly closing your backpack.   
“Alphys and I are heading home.” Undyne says walking into the room with the scientist behind her.   
You grin and get off the bed, rushing to your friends and hugging them.  
“You EVER scare us like that again and I’ll pummel you, got it twerp?” Undyne asks you.  
You nod and apologize again.  
“I-It’s alr-right Frisk.” Alphys assures you. “J-Just keep y-your phone on. Alright?”  
You nod and wave at them as they leave your room.  
Sans is standing in the hall in front of your door and waves off the pair.  
“Thanks for coming over and helping us look for the kiddo.” Sans says to Undyne. “Cod-n’t of done it without you.”   
With that, and a quick attempted noogie on Undyne’s part, the pair leave.  
“Got a minute kid?” Sans asks with a wide grin.  
You put on a bright smile for him and invite him inside your room, quickly shoving your backpack back under the bed.  
“You were hungry.” Sans says, eye on the cleaned plate. “You usually don’t go for seconds of supper and dessert.”  
Your smile becomes nervous and you shrug before quickly grabbing your math note book.   
You tell Sans that you’re really struggling and need help.  
“Heh, sure kid.” Sans shrugs. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”   
You and Sans both sit on your bed and he explains to you how to do your problems.   
You work through the set together with Sans and the tension in the room seems to abate.   
“Yup, that’s right.” Sans grins at you after checking your last problem. “Not such a bad time huh?”  
You groan and flop back on your pillow.  
You tell him you hate math.  
Sans chuckles.  
“Well, now that you’re homework is done…” Sans offers you his hand. “You got some explaining to do.”  
You take his hand and sit up, letting your legs dangle over the side of the bed.  
“So… Skipping class now?” Sans asks. “Ya know kiddo, I wouldn’t be too mad about that if you’d just told me what you’d been doing. I’m not one to talk seeing as I nap on the job as often as I can get away with it.” He chuckles and nudges your shoulder. “But don’t go being a lazy bones like me just yet, you still gotta get through school.”  
You tell him you know but you hate school.  
“It wasn’t my favorite thing to do either, growing up.” Sans sighs. “But you’re not going to start cutting class, no one here is going to be happy with you if you do. So, want to tell me what’s going on?”  
You shake your head.  
“Well, I suppose I can’t force you to tell me.” Sans chuckles, his eyes turning sad. “We’re all worried about you kid. You don’t talk to any of us about what’s going on with you. You’re lying to us and now you’re cutting class. That’s not like you. You wouldn’t even tell us about the bullying until I made you.” His arm wraps around your shoulders and gives you a squeeze. “Come on kiddo, what’s up?” He gives you a comical grin. “If you spill your guts for me I’ll spill mine for you.”   
You giggle and tell him that he doesn’t have any guts.   
“But if I had any I’d spill them for you.” Sans winks at you. “Come on buddy, talk to your dunkle Sans. What’s going on with you?”  
You go silent before looking nervously up at him.  
You tell him that you’re really miserable at school. You feel lonely and have no friends, you have to do projects alone because no one will team up with you, and you just hate going. You tell him that the nightmares hadn’t stopped either and that some nights you didn’t even want to sleep and others were much worse.  
“What happened on those nights?” Sans asks.  
You tell him about some of the dreams, your voice coming out as soft as a whisper, and then about waking up. You can’t breathe when you wake up, you feel sick to your stomach, your entire body hurts, you can’t tell where you are, your head hurts. You wrap your arms around Sans’ middle and begin to cling to him for comfort.  
“Why haven’t you come to any of us?” Sans asks you, his arms wrapping around you.  
You shrug and tell him that you hadn’t thought about it, when you wake up from a nightmare all you can do is try to breath.  
Sans sighs and gives you a tight squeeze.  
“You’re not alone kid, we’re here for you.” Sans tells you. “And… For some of the stuff that you can’t talk to the others about like the resets and other things I want you to come talk to me.”  
You nod quietly.  
“Alright.” Sans sighs before grinning down at you. “So, anything else new in your world?”  
You think and wonder about Gaster. You ask Sans if he knew of anyone named Gaster.  
Sans’ eyes went completely black and his grin became icy.  
“Gaster?” Sans repeats the name. “How do you know that name?”  
You explain to him that he’d been a monster that you’d met in one of your first runs.  
“Have you, heh, seen him around on this run?” Sans asks, letting go of you and making you meet his eyes.   
You tense and then shake your head. You tell Sans that you think it was just a dream but it’d made you curious. You tell him that you were curious because you hadn’t seen him this run and you’d thought that all of the monsters would come to the surface.   
“Ah, good.” Sans’ grin becomes relieved and he ruffles your hair. “Just, don’t worry about Gaster. If you see him though I NEED you to tell me. Immediately. Understand?”  
You nod confusedly and ask Sans what’s wrong with Gaster.  
“Nothing, don’t worry about it.” Sans says, getting off your bed. “We got time to catch the end of that cop show you like. Wanna watch?”  
You initially nod but remember Flowey. You tell Sans that you’re tired and would really like to go to bed.  
“No worries.” Sans grins, his left eye shines bright blue.  
You find yourself floating, immobilized, behind him as he walks into the hall.   
“If you fall asleep we’ll just take you back to bed.” He shrugs. “Come on kid, time for some good old family time.”  
You can’t think of any reason to not spend time with them that wouldn’t give Flowey away. You just hope that the flower is alright.   
You sit on Asgore’s lap as you all watch the TV. You did like cop shows. You begin to doze near the end of the episode though and fall asleep quickly.


	8. Chapter 8

You’d managed to sneak Flowey out of the house, seemingly unnoticed. The only hiccup had been when Sans had stopped you at the door on the way out with Toriel. Your heart had stopped for a second before the skeleton had put his blue hoodie on you and taken the torn one you had been wearing.  
“Don’t need you getting a cold shoulder.” Sans had told you with a wide grin and wink. “Have a good day kiddo.”   
As soon as you’d been dropped off at school you’d let Flowey out of your book bag. At recess you found your flower friend again by the edge of the woods.  
“Yeah, I guess it wasn’t that bad.” Flowey says when you apologize about the previous night. “But I swear to god Frisk if you ever try to crush me in that trashy backpack of yours again I WILL END YOU!”  
You begin to apologies emphatically before the flower sighs and shakes it off.  
“I suppose that the pie, which sucked by the way, makes up for it.” Flowey grudgingly says. “Whatever, I’m over it. What I’m interested in is your little chat with smiley trash bag.” He makes a gagging motion. “Just about made me lose that crappy dinner you brought me. You don’t actually believe that jack off do you?”  
You ask him why you wouldn’t trust Sans?  
“Because he’s LYING to you and hiding stuff.” Flowey rolls his eyes. “Toriel? Yeah, I’d believe her. Asgore? Yeah, even if he’s so soft that I could stab him with a butter knife. The rest of them?” He sticks his tongue out and spits on the ground. “Nope! Especially not that smiley trashbag!”  
You tell Flowey that they’ve been nothing but kind to you.  
“Yeah?” Flowey gives you a dry look. “Even when they were trying to kill you?”  
You go quiet, the flower’s words eliciting memories of previous runs. You tell him that that’s not fair because they can’t remember those memories.  
“Smiley Trashbag can.” Flowey retorts.  
You tell Flowey that so can he and you don’t hold it against him.  
“Well, yeah we actually talk about it.” Flowey shrugs. “And, unlike trashbag, I’m not trying to keep secrets from you like he is. AND I’m actually gonna help you find Gaster and room 269.”   
You perk up at that and ask if he’s really going to help you.  
“I told you I would yesterday before all that crap happened didn’t I?” Flowey snapped before grinning widely. “Of course, not for free. Information is valuable I’ll have you know. I’ll help you get back into the underground and find room 269 if you get me more of Toriel’s pie.”  
You agree quickly, feeling glad.   
“I’ll even throw in finding Gaster just because I know Trashbag doesn’t want you to find him.” Flowey smirks. “Trust me, you dult, we’ll find Gaster quickly.”   
The recess bell rings and you get up to go.  
“I’m going to go scope somethings out.” Flowey tells you quickly. “Meet me back here on Saturday. Got it?”  
You nod before running inside for your last three classes of the day.   
Your last three classes go well and when you walk to the front office it’s Asgore waiting for you. The King of monsters, who had since traded in his battle ready armor for a Hawaiian shirt, was smiling at all the children passing.  
“Howdy, Frisk.” Asgore smiles down at you. “How was your day?”  
You shrug and hand him a letter from Ms. Pepper that she’d told you to give to your guardians.  
“Oh, what’s this?” Asgore asks, looking at the letter. “A science fair!”  
You nod and tell him that you’re supposed to make a project over winter break.  
“How wonderful!” Asgore seems delighted as you both begin to walk out of the school. “They’re looking for volunteers to come judge and help the kids set up.”  
Papyrus’ red convertible was parked out front of the school and you both walk towards it.  
“So, Toriel thought it would be a good idea if we spent some time together.” Asgore said, putting the note into the pocket of the shorts he wore, seeming a bit nervous. “I thought maybe we could go for a drive? The movies up here suggest that humans like to drive around.”   
You shrug and tell him that you don’t mind as you take off your backpack and put it in the back seat.   
“Very good, then we should be off partner!” Asgore smile widely.  
You pull away from the school in the bright red car and soon Asgore is driving you down the road out of town and onto the highway. Unlike Papyrus, Asgore went BELOW the speed limit which on the one hand was nice because you don’t feel nauseous but on the other was very boring.  
“So I understand that you’re having some trouble at school?” Asgore asks after a time.  
You tell him you were but it’s better now.  
“Oh, have you made friends?” Asgore asks hopefully.  
You think carefully then tell him that you do have one friend that you talk to over recess.  
“That’s wonderful!” Asgore seems genuinely happy. “Tell me about your friend.”  
You tell Asgore that your friend is a little grumpy but you both like to joke around and talk about stuff. You have a sudden idea and ask Asgore if he’d mind if you went and played with your friend this Saturday coming up?  
“Not at all!” Asgore grins toothily. “It’s good for you to have a partner to play with.” He pulls up to a stop light smoothly, you’re nearing the next town where the new strip mall had been build. “Do you know what you’re going to do? If you don’t you can invite them over. I’m sure Toriel would be happy to meet your new friend.”  
You think and then tell Asgore that your friend probably wouldn’t come over because they were afraid of Sans.  
“Afraid of Sans?” Asgore frowns. “Why would...” Understanding seems to dawn in his eyes. “This friend wasn’t one of the older children who had been bullying you are they?”  
You consider your words carefully.  
You tell him yes, your friend used to be very mean to you and everyone but they’d become really nice and you liked spending time with them now.  
“Well…” Asgore frowns in thought. “I’m proud of you for making peace with your enemies.” He turns into the parking lot of the strip mall. “That’s a lesson that you know all too well, a lesson beyond your years.” He parks and turns and smiles at you, patting your head. “I should, someday, like to meet your friend but I understand their caution.” He unbuckles both of your seatbelts. “Come, we should find you a new coat Frisk.”  
Asgore stepped out and picked you up out of the car and sets you on the sidewalk, taking your hand.   
“I notice that Papyrus carries you on his shoulders a lot, do you like that?” Asgore asks as he walks around the shops with you, it’s late afternoon.  
You tell him that you do. You recall fond memories of watching other kids’ daddies carrying them like that and how you’d always wished that you had a daddy who would give you piggy back rides too. You tell him how happy you were the first time you got to ride piggy back.  
“I see.” Asgore smiles at you before stopping in his steps. “If you would like, I can carry you on my shoulder.”  
You think and then nod, smiling up at the King of monsters.  
Asgore’s shoulders are so broad that you are able to sit on one of them as you both go through the stores.  
You can’t find a hoodie that matched the one that Sans had found for you, but then again you like the blue and white one he had given you.   
You ask Asgore if you could keep San’s hoodie and get him a new on instead.  
“If you would like.” Asgore tells you. “I see no problem with that.”  
You set out then to find a new hoodie. You look in all the stores but you don’t find any that you like…  
“Frisk…” Asgore says, checking the time on his cell phone before looking at a kiosk standing between stalls. “I’ve an idea that should meet your needs.”  
Asgore takes you to the Kiosk and you both speak to the pale human there. You pick out a navy blue hoodie with white fleece lining a lot like the one you are wearing now and watch as the man stretches it over a mold.  
“Could you impress this onto it?” Asgore asks with a mischievous smile, handing the man a note that he had quickly written before looking down at you. “A personal touch that your dunkle will like.”   
“I-It’ll be ready in j-just a minute Sir!” The kiosk man said as he quickly set up what looked like a big press.  
“Wonderful, thank you.” Asgore says contently before glancing down at you. “Oh the way home perhaps we can get some ice cream? I quite like the stuff myself and there’s a place I’ve heard about that lets you pick candies to put in it. Do you want to go there on our way home?”  
You nod excitedly.   
Once the hoodie was done Asgore showed you what he’d had written on it.   
Your respect for the King of Monsters increases tenfold after seeing the words written on the hoodie.  
On the way home Asgore stops and takes you into an icecream parlor where you both proceed to order the largest sizes of ice cream and load them each with as many candies, toppings, and sauces as you can. Your monsterous creations are both crammed into huge waffle cones, the icecream and toppings drooping over the sides.   
You both rush to eat them before the massive ice cream cones melt all over you and you both receive skull splitting brain freezes as a result.  
Finally, your purchase in hand and the ice cream that didn’t end up on your shirts eaten, you turn back homeward.   
You hadn’t realized until you’re in the car riding back home, the country music that Asgore liked playing as the wind whipped through your hair, how tired you were. You still hadn’t been sleeping well but having Flowey there the night before had helped a great deal because the flower had woken you up before the nightmare had gotten too bad.   
Now, riding down the highway against the rapidly darkening sky, warm in the blue hoodie your friend had given you sleep beckoned.   
You doze in and out of sleep, clutching the bag with your purchase in it to your chest. You don’t sleep enough to dream you are not awake enough to hear Asgore talk to you.   
When you and Asgore return home it’s dark and the King of Monsters, rather than waking you up, simply lifts you from your seat and carries you into the house.  
You’re vaguely aware that you’re lain on the couch and can hear Toriel scolding Asgore for the ice cream mess on both of your shirts. You can faintly hear Papyrus in the distance and the TV on some kind of cooking show. It was all so familiar to you that sleep began to pull you deeper into it’s dark embrace.  
“My child you must take a bath.” Toriel gently tries to shake you awake.  
You groan, clutching the bag with the hoodie in it to your chest, and burry your face into the pillow.  
You whine when Toriel picks you up and wriggle out of her hands, flopping onto the couch with an “oomph”.  
“I’ll bring the kid if you get the bath ready.” You hear Sans chuckle.  
“Oh, thank you. It should only be a moment.” Toriel says.   
A boney finger pokes your forehead rather roughly.  
You open your eyes grudgingly and glare at Sans who was grinning widely at you.  
“You’re about to have a BATH time kid.” He chuckles, teasing you.  
You yawn and sit up, sighing because you really just wanted to sleep, before your eyes fall on the bag still in your arms.   
You grin up at Sans and hold out the bag.   
“Heh, what’s this?” Sans asks, taking the bag from you.   
You thank him for his hoodie, which you’re still wearing, and tell him that it was both you and Asgore who got it for him.  
“Aw, it’s no biggie.” Sans shrugs reaching into the bag and pulling out the navy blue hoodie.  
Sans goes silent as he reads the words written across the front of it.  
PUNNY GUY.  
“Heh,” he gins widely, shaking out the hoodie and putting it on. “Thanks kid. I love it.” He ruffles your hair. “It really captures my essence.”  
You grin widely, happy that he likes the present that you had picked for him.   
“But you’re still in for a BATH time.” Sans’ grin widens.   
You try to make a run for it but you find yourself gone blue, Sans’ eye flashing blue.  
After your bath Toriel dried you off and helped you change into PJs. You do your homework in the living room with everyone, Papyrus deciding to help you with your music homework where you had to draw how the music made you feel.   
Math was another issue but you managed through it then your attention was brought to the science fair. Asgore and Toriel were both interested in volunteering at the science fair and since you had no idea what you would be doing both of your dunkles were excited to help you.  
“I’ll look some stuff up tomorrow.” Sans assures you. “We’ll figure out what you’re doing after I do some looking.”  
You grin excitedly. Ms. Pepper did say that adult supervision and necessary assistance was alright.  
For the most part the last three days of the week went well. You didn’t see Flowey those days so you spent your time wondering around the playground and spending time seeing how high you could get on the swings.   
Everything was going well for a change.  
You’re drifting, or are you falling? You couldn’t tell. It was all black around you. You strained your eyes and couldn’t see anything.   
Screams echo around you.  
Laughter tears through the screams and you feel something hard in your hand.   
You look down and see the knife, blood dripping from it’s edge.  
You scream and let go of it.  
The knife falls and lands against a black ground and dust fly around you.   
You look in horror as the dust swirls lazily all about you.   
You reach for the knife again and see for the first time that something red and sticky coated your hands.  
You’re suddenly awake, laying safely in your own bed.   
You’re not hyperventilating like you usually were from a nightmare, was this even a nightmare?  
Your heart is racing and you know that it was a nightmare but it wasn’t like the others. At least the memories you could calm yourself when you woke with the knowledge that everyone was alright now. But this, the dust and blood lingered in your mind.  
You think of going to Sans, he’d been pressing you to come get him when the nightmares got to be too much. You want to move, to go find Sans, but your body was frozen.   
You look around, the shadows in your room swirling closer and closer. Panic begins to set in as a familiar form takes shape. They’re holding a knife and grin widely at you.   
You try to move as their hand grabs your hair and pulls your head back.  
“Don’t forget about me, partner.” They say with a simple smile, their voice as sweet as candy, as they press the blade’s edge to your throat.   
You feel the kiss of the blade burn your skin and a warm, wet, trail of blood begin to flow.   
You wake with a start.  
The sun’s light hadn’t even broken the horizon yet.   
You look at your phone and see that it’s 05:05 in the morning.   
You take deep breaths, trying to calm yourself, as you stare at your shaking hands. They’re clean but paler than normal.   
You stumble out of your bed and to the mirror where you stare at your neck.  
Nothing.  
Your breathing gradually begins to slow and you’re able to collect your thoughts. It’d just been a dream.  
It had all just been a dream.  
You think of going to someone, anyone, just to make sure but the idea of seeing anyone right now paralyzed you. You stare at yourself in the mirror. Your entire body is trembling and sweat dotted your face.  
You decide that you need a walk, alone. You quickly dress in a t-shirt and jeans, empty your backpack and bring it with you.  
Grabbing Sans’ hoodie you leave your bedroom and creep as silently as you can through the house. You find leftovers of the butterscotch cinnamon pie that Toriel had made the day before in the fridge and put them in your backpack. You also grab several pieces of monster candy from the jar on the counter, just to be safe, two bottles of water, and a box of bandaids.   
You creep out of the house, the outside dark and cool, and begin to walk towards the school. You wonder if Flowey would even be at the school yet.   
You pull Sans’ hoodie tighter about you and continue on. At least, because it was so early, no one was out. You got out of the reservation as fast as you can.   
You had permission from Asgore to hang out today but you didn’t want anyone to tag along. You didn’t know what most monsters felt about Flowey but you knew how all of them felt about going back to the Underground.  
You arrive at the school and check your phone. It was fully charged and usually a full charge would last you two or three days no problem and you kept the ringer on loud just in case. It was 05:50.   
You’d made good time at least and you went to the swings to wait. You played around on your phone and prepared a text to send to Asgore and Toriel in a little while so that they wouldn’t worry.

Mom, Dad,   
My friend came and picked me up to go play. Would it be alright if I had lunch at his house today?  
Ps. He really likes your pie mom. 

You read over the text a few times and decide that it’s good enough before checking the time. Its 0615.  
You decide to send it since Toriel was usually awake before you.   
“Howdy!” A bright voice starts you and you drop your phone.   
Flowey the flower is next to the swings grinning up at you.  
“What’s this?” He peers down at your phone before a twisted grin spreads across his face. “Covering your bases?”   
You nod and ask him what he thinks.  
“It’ll work, I guess.” Flowey frowns at the message before perking up. “You brought pie?”  
You grin and pull out the large slices.   
You consume one large slice of butterscotch cinnamon pie.  
Flowey devours his slice in great bites, far more enthusiastically than you thought he would.  
“Alright,” The flower burps contently, using his roots to climb onto you backpack and settle there with his blossom resting on the top of your head. “Start up the mountain. Do you remember the hole that takes you to the ruins?”  
You tell him you do but ask if the entrance where the seal broke wouldn’t be safer.  
“Your stupid lizard friend put cameras all around that way.” Flowey grumbled. “So we’ll just go in the standard way. Besides, what’s the worst that can happen? You fall, break your legs, and pop some candy. You’ll be fine.”  
You nervously agree, it’d be alright. You send the text to Toriel, thinking that this would be a long day.  
It takes you the better part of an hour to get up to the actual path of the mountain that lead to the barrier had broken. Before entering the area where Flowey said that there were cameras you veer off and, following the flower’s directions, continued on for an hour more.   
You begin to talk to Flowey as the woods about you become vaguely familiar and tell him about how you’d used to wonder about this very same forest. No one had ever bothered you playing up here and when things had gotten bad at the orphanage you’d run here thinking that no one would find you. But they’d called the police and social services. You’d seen the sirens at the base of the mountain where New Home Reservation now stood from up here. So you’d run. You’d run and run until you’d fallen down the hole to the Underground.  
“Why’re you telling me this?” Flowey snaps at you, but his voice was softer.   
You shrug and tell him you don’t know why, you just suddenly felt like talking about it.  
“Well save story time for later idiot!” Flowey now yelled at you. “FOCUS! The hole should be right up ahead, tell your sappy stories later!”   
You go quiet and continue to follow Flowey’s directions until you find yourself standing on the edge of an enormous, gaping, hole.  
You wonder out loud how you hadn’t seen this when you had been running away.  
“Because you’re an idiot.” Flowey rolls his eyes at you. “Duh.”  
You toe closer to the edge, looking over anxiously. You couldn’t see the bottom. How had you survived the last fall?  
“WILL YOU JUST JUMP ALREADY?!” Flowey snaps at you angrily, startling you.  
Your foot slips and you tumble down the hole.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please no flames, but critiques always welcome!  
> AoO is being a pain about posting this it keeps cutting it off!!!

It was just like the first time you’d fallen. You don’t remember much of the actual fall but you wake on a bed of soft golden flowers. Somehow they’d saved you again.   
You look around and find your backpack still on your back.  
“You alive?!” Flowey’s annoyed voice startles you and you look around.  
The flower is in the dirt beside you, his petals glowing brightly.   
“Geez took you long enough!” Flowey snaps at you. “Get up and come on!”   
You check your phone quickly as you get up, feeling it buzz in your pocket, and find that both Toriel and Asgore had replied to your text. 

Have fun partner!  
-Asgore

I’m glad they liked it! Have fun and be safe my child, I love you.  
-Toriel

You sigh, relieved, and show the messages to Flowey who rolls his eyes.  
“Yeah, great, hurry up!” Flowey says, climbing up your back and settling on your backpack. “We gotta get to Waterfall.”   
You rush through the ruins. There weren’t nearly as many monsters here now as there had been when you had first fallen down.   
Wondering through Toriel’s house feels surreal, the door simply swinging open for you when you’d tried it. All of the furniture was covered in white sheets to protect them from dust, you wonder if Toriel planned to move it to the surface.   
You rush down the stairs that lead to the exit of the ruins, thinking that you have to hurry and it was a long walk to Waterfall.  
Memories of the first time that you had followed Toriel down this very hall come back to the surface.  
You pause just before the door, dust particles circulating around you.   
So much dust.   
That first run…  
You hadn’t known.   
If you had you wouldn’t have.  
You wouldn’t have hurt them.  
But you hadn’t known and you’d been so afraid.  
All of the stories that you’d heard had made you…  
“Hey!” Flowey’s voice snaps you out of your stupor. “What are you waiting for?! Move your butt!”  
You press on, shoving the doors from the ruins open and walking into the snowy forest before Snowden steadily.   
The town was completely deserted as you wonder down the main street. Windows to stores, the inn, Grillby’s, everywhere were boarded up. As you pass Sans’ and Papyrus’ old house you see that Sans never did clean out his mail box and have to laugh.   
You moved through the woods and ran into several of the weaker monsters who had always attacked you. Most of them knew of you now and let you pass but some of them still charged at you aggressively. Luckily you’re able to dodge and flee most of them, having to ignore Flowey’s repeated offers to destroy each of them.   
As you wonder through the woods you come across it, a save point. You stop, staring at the golden star shining brightly.  
Even Flowey is quiet, watching what you’re going to do.  
You’d promised Sans you’d never reset again, but it didn’t hurt to save did it?  
Your hand reaches towards it, it was so tempting just to create a save file.  
You stare at your old save file that comes up in confusion.  
“Town of Ebbott”  
So you had saved that day…   
But, it’s strange because the date on it was… Yesterday? How could that be?   
You continue on without saving.  
“So there are save points on the surface.” Flowey muses, a wicked grin spreading across his face. “You know what this means?”  
You shake your head.  
“The game continues.” Flowey comes around your head and tells you. “You CAN reset at any time still. You just need to learn how to save on your own.”  
You shake your head again, you remind him that you’d promised Sans you wouldn’t reset ever again. Flowey goes silent, glaring at you each time you look at him. You get to Waterfall alright, the walk through Snowden uneventful.   
You stop on the bridge where you had first run across Undyne. You’d died so many times and had reset each time. You’d begun to despise the fish woman. That had been the first neutral run you had done. You’d just become so angry at Undyne for killing you that you’d finally fought back. You’d begun to kill every monster past that point who you hadn’t been able to easily evade, even Mettaton…  
When you’d finished the run you’d gone to the surface and had thought about returning to the orphanage but… You’d felt so unsure, so alone, and the guilt of what you had done had begun to weigh heavily on you.   
You’d made a true reset.  
“Did you make ALL your true resets because of guilt?” Flowey asks sarcastically, you hadn’t realized that you’d been talking outloud.  
You shrug, you decide that you’ll be honest with Flowey.  
You explain that most of your true resets yes, and then some you admit were out of curiosity. You’d completed several neutral runs, a few genocide runs which had been some of your first few, but had only managed a true pacifist run on this last time. You smile, thinking of how hard it had been. You tell Flowey that as much as it hurt you didn’t hate your friends for how many times you’d been killed by them.  
Even if they didn’t remember what you’d done to them but for some reason it had helped that they’d killed you so many times. After all… you’d taken everything away from them so many times, just because you’d been both angry and curious.  
“What were you angry about?” Flowey asks. “You’re always so obnoxiously happy and friendly that it makes my pedals curl.”  
You tell him that you’d been angry at everything the first few runs you’d gone through. You’d lost your parents, the Overground had taken everything from you and had made your life a living nightmare, and the people here in the Underground couldn’t appreciate how good they had it. They didn’t understand how truly horrible it was over ground, but then again you hadn’t know how absolutely hopeless they had become down here until your later runs. You explain that you hadn’t even realized how hopeless you had become until your later runs. Because the happiest you had ever been had been during those nearly perfect pacifist runs.   
Until you had finally let go of your anger and had found new hope in your friends, until you’d developed enough DETERMINATINON for a better life and not just to survive.   
“So, what would it take for you to reset now?” Flowey asks off handedly.  
You shrug, you tell him that you don’t really know but it would have to be something that would be horrible because you wouldn’t just be resetting. You’d be breaking a promise to Sans who, despite how many painful times he’d killed you in the past, he’d always been a fair judge of you.   
“Ah.” Flowey seems lost in thought just as your phone buzzes.   
You pull it out and see it’s Alphys calling.  
You answer.  
“H-Hey Frisk.” Her nervous stutter comes through the receiver. “Wh-What are y-you doing Un-Underground?”  
You freeze and look back at Flowey who’s also frozen.  
You ask her how she knows that you’re in the Underground.   
“My c-cameras.” Alphys explains. “I-Its dangerous for y-you to b-be there alone. A-Are you alright? Wh-Who’s th-that in your b-backpack?”  
You feel the blood drain from your face and look back at Flowey again.   
Flowey shakes his head at you.  
“LIE.” He hisses at you.  
You shake your head and tell him you can’t lie to Alphys.  
You tell her that he’s a friend of yours and you’d wanted to explore the Underground more, which wasn’t a complete lie.  
“O-Oh, a-are you s-safe?” Alphys asks. “Un-Undyne could c-come g-get you.”  
You shake your head, looking around to see if you could spot any of her cameras. You find a camera in a high corner over some of the memory flowers that glowed brightly. You ask Alphys not to tell anyone that you’re Underground and that they would be mad at you. You explain that you didn’t want anyone to worry and that some people didn’t like Flowey.   
There’s a long, heavy, pause.  
“O-Oh!” Alphys seems confused. “I-I suppose I c-can keep this a s-secret…” She hesitates over the phone before continuing. “I-I’ll k-keep watch o-on m-my monitors j-just in case.”  
You smile up at the camera and nod before thanking her over the phone and saying good bye.  
“WHAT THE CRAP FRISK?!” Flowey immediately snaps at you. “WHY DID YOU TELL THEM EVERYTHING?!”  
You explain that Alphys is reliable and a good friend, waving at a camera as you continue on towards the Waterfall. You suggest that Flowey waves at a camera too as the lenses follow you in your progress.   
Flowey sticks his tongue out at a camera.  
You sigh and continue on. You tell him about how you met Alphys and how she was your favorite person to watch Anime with. Your phone buzzes and you check to find a text from Alphys.

I like watching Anime with you too!  
-Alphys

You grin and wink at the nearest camera flirtatiously.   
You now know that anything you say Underground she can hear too. You wonder how much of the resets conversation she’d heard. You feel your stomach twist. You’d have to ask her later.  
A grey door appears ahead of you as you wonder through one of Waterfall’s long corridors. You don’t think anything of it until you get closer and the door slowly cracks open.  
“Hey!” Flowey snaps at the slowly opening door. “Get lost if you know what’s good for you! I’ve been looking for a fight all day!”   
You try to hush Flowey but it doesn’t do any good.  
A pair of red eyes glint from just inside the door.   
Your phone begins to ring again and you answer it.  
Just as Alphys’ voice comes through the receiver a pair of floating hands grab you by the collar and you’re yanked towards the door. You let out a yell as the door closes behind you.  
The room is brightly lit by invisible lights. The walls and floor are both pristinely white, the light refracting off of them both blinding. You have to squint to see anything, your eyes aching as you try to look around.   
You feel your backpack is gone and the phone you had been holding gone. The only distinguishable thing in the room is a large, black, blob that you can’t make out through your squinted vision.  
“.” The broken speech makes you pause.  
You call out to Gaster tentatively, reaching out and trying to feel your way through the room towards him. You can’t find the walls but a hand with a hole in the palm takes yours and guides you, stumblingly, through the bright room, to the massive blob.  
You feel another hand on your shoulder and you kneel to the ground in front of the blob.  
“.” The broken speech comes again. “.”  
You tell Gaster that you can’t understand him as the light in the room becomes brighter. You have to squeeze your eyes shut tightly but the light burns through. You cover your eyes with your hands as you feel something wrap around you.   
The floor is suddenly gone from beneath you and the light is gone. You open your eyes to find yourself glowing blue, just like you would be when Sans used the magic on you, and drifting through a never ending void.  
“My apologies.” A broken voice draws your attention to a tall skeleton.  
He wore a long black coat and black pants, a white turtleneck underneath. The only thing that told you he’s Gaster was his face. The strangely smooth face that had two opposing cuts going over the skull from one way and stopping at the eye and another breaking down from the other eye and around the jaw.   
“I didn’t mean to frighten you, child, but I don’t have much time.” His words began to smooth as you drifted closer to him. You notice that he’s standing on a large area of smooth black tiles that shone like they’d been polished. You notice that there are six bodiless hands drifting around him lazily. You’re surprised to see two hands actually attached to his body.  
You reach out as you drift closer.  
“It’s nice to see a friendly face again.” He smiles a wide, empty, black grin at you and takes your outreached hand. “Come, I hope that you are well?”  
You nod as you gently float to the ground. You look around you in confusion. You can see but there’s no light. You can walk on the ground but feel weightless.  
“This is the void, and where I am trapped.” Gaster explains, walking you across the floor. “Many do not remember me, but you do.” His wide smile turns down on you again. “You are such a special little human, aren’t you? You’ve the most DETERMINATION that I have ever known a single human to possess. I hope that you will help me with a problem.”  
You tell him you’d be happy to help, you just need to know how.  
“As you know, there are many time lines.” Gaster explains, one of the floating hands drifting in front of you. In it’s wake you see a long blue line glowing brightly. “But this wasn’t always the case. Once, long before you had fallen, there was only one.” The line breaks in the middle into hundreds of strands. “This happened when Asriel absorbed Chara’s soul. You see, Chara had been gifted with great determination also. At first this was fine but, when Asriel who housed Chara’s soul was slaughtered, Chara’s determination did not die.”   
You feel your hands begin to sweat at Chara’s name, the genocide runs racing through your head.  
“Chara’s determination fractured the timelines and has kept them fractured since.” Gaster continues, seemingly unaware of your unease. “And, as long as their soul goes unchecked, the timelines will continue to fracture and they will continue to influence those that they can, those that have the determination they once did.” Gaster looks down at you. “You possess the most determination that I know of, and I have been looking, but I think that Chara was put off by your sudden desires for peace.” He smiles down at you, proudly. “You proved that you’re capable of doing what they desire” Images from your genocide runs flash all around you. Toriel turning to dust, Papyrus’ head falling off, Undyne disintegrating, Sans stumbling away bloody and dying. “But you’ve changed and your DETERMINATION to change countered their own DETERMINATION.”   
The images change to happier ones. The date you’d had with Papyrus, hugging Toriel and Asgore, cooking with Undyne, playing pranks on people with Sans, your friends visiting you in the hospital room.   
“I believe that if Chara’s soul, and thereby their DETERMINATION, were contained and sated that the timelines could be repaired and return to a singular stream.” Gaster explains. “And all those fractured a cross them can be made whole again.”   
You pause, trying to get your thoughts in order. This was more than you understood and told him you didn’t understand.  
“If we can sate Chara’s soul, without destroying it,” He crouched to your height and met your gaze. “I believe that the fractured timelines will merge into this one and all those erased from time and space because of the fracturing will be restored.” He smiles at you. “I could leave the void and return as I once was.”  
You nod, slowly understanding, before asking why he was trapped here. You explain that you’d only ever seen him once before.  
“I came here by accident,” Gaster’s face becomes sad. “Only a small part of me exists in each timeline now, to enter one takes enormous strength and the weight of that timeline nearly destroys me each time I enter it.” He pats your head. “But I send my followers when I can. Do you remember? I would always send one to tuck you when you were so weary in the true laboratory.”   
You pause, the memory of the ghostly figure coming to mind, before you grin up at him. You tell him that you’d like to help him.  
“It will take a lot of DETERMINATION.” Gaster explains. “And you will need to be careful, but I will help you however I can.”   
You nod and wrap your arms around his middle tightly.  
“I forgot how it felt to be embraced.” Gaster says and wraps his arms around you. “Thank you, Frisk. I hope to hug my sons again someday.”  
You nod and tell him that you’ll do whatever you can to help him.   
Seeing the happiness in Gaster’s face fills you with DETERMINATION.  
“You must go now.” Gaster says, rising to his feet. “First, you must find Chara’s soul. They will be drawn to you. If you can find their soul then we can proceed.” The blue magic surrounds you and you begin to drift away from the tiled floor, one of Gaster’s bodiless hands leading you away. “Find their soul and trap it. Bring it to me when you can.”  
You drift through the void before you’re flung through blinding light. You slam against a wall and fall to the floor painfully, losing 5 of your 20 HP.  
You’re dazed and your head hurts, it takes you a moment to orient yourself.   
“WHAT THE HECK FRISK?!” Flowey wasn’t going to give you a moment though.  
The flower was holding your cellphone in one of his vines as Alphys panicked on the other end of the line. You see that your backpack was nearby.  
You look at him and ask how long you’d been gone.  
“TWO FREAKING HOURS YOU MORON!” Flowey snapped. “AND THIS IDIOT WAS JUST ABOUT TO TELL EVERYONE WHERE YOU WERE! GET YOUR TRASH! YOU’RE GOING HOME NOW!”   
You rub your head and take the phone from Flowey. You apologize to Alphys and tell her that you’re fine.  
“Y-You c-completely w-went off the m-map!” She was still panicked, or was she excited? You couldn’t tell. “Wh-Where’d you go?!”   
You tell her that you don’t really know but that you’re on your way home before ending the call. You gather your backpack and Flowey before asking what the fastest way home was.  
“WHY ARE YOU RUNNING?!” Flowey shouts almost instantly after you take off at a run.  
You have so much energy. You are more DETERMINED than you have been in months.  
You tell Flowey that you are going to need help finding someone but you’ll explain it later. You run through Waterfall and grab a quick drink at the water fountain in Hotlands.   
Your phone buzzes as you guzzle the water and you check it.

Gonna be home for supper? Papyrus is wondering.  
-Sans

You quickly text back that you’re on your way now and you’ll be there soon-ish.  
You grin, feeling pumped, and take off at a run again. You make it through Hotlands, the Core, and to the exit in record time. Before you know it you’re skidding down the mountain side towards new home.  
“WILL YOU STOP ALREADY?!” Flowey snaps. “STOP!!!”   
You finally come to a stop, panting and still grinning excitedly. You take off your backpack to let Flowey off and smile at him.  
You thank him and give him some of the candy you had in your bag.  
“Geez, you’re such a freak.” Flowey seems put off. “What the heck happened back there with the grabby door?”  
You tell him that it was Gaster and you’re going to help him, but first you have to find Chara.  
“Ch-Chara?!” Flowey balks at what you said. “You want to find Chara now?!”  
You nod and ask Flowey if he had any idea where their soul might be.  
“Uh, no.” Flowey shakes his head. “This screams stupid idea, stupider than finding Gaster. I’m not helping you find Chara.”   
You ask why, deflating slighty.  
“Remember what happened the last time you and Chara were together?” Flowey asks. “Because I do and getting cut to pieces is not my idea of fun!”  
You freeze. That’s right… All those runs, all the genocides and kills…  
Every time you’d killed…  
Every person…  
Every monster…  
Even Sans could tell something was off when Chara was in control, even if he didn’t know exactly what was going on...  
You nod and straighten up, telling Flowey you had to get home and thanking him for his help.  
You rush home, running as fast as you can, but this time it wasn’t from DETERMINATION.   
You run out of fear.  
You don’t want to remember the things Chara made you do.  
You try to actually run away from the memories.   
A part of you sees Undyne outside but you don’t register her.  
You see Undyne’s disintegrating body turning to ash.   
You keep running through New Home reservation, the annoyed shouts of the monsters you nearly collide with a distant din in your ears.  
You had to get away.   
These memories.  
It feels like they’re wrapping around you.  
They’re pulling you in.   
What if it’s Chara?  
What if- Oof!  
“Whoa, slow down there speed racer.” Sans chuckles, just managing to catch you in blue before you race past your own house. “Forget where you live of something?”  
You’re panting, your head fuzzy, and it takes you a minute to orient yourself. You look at Sans and take a deep breath before you sigh.  
“Hey, what’s going on kiddo?” Sans asks, still grinning like he usually did, as you drift to him at his magic’s pull.   
You shake your head and grin back at him, the corners of your mouth twitching unintentionally.  
“What’s wrong?” Sans asks, letting you down. “King Fluffy in there said you went to go play with a friend from school today. I woulda walked you over to them if you’da told me.”   
You quickly hug him tightly, burying your face into his hoodie, and just breath.   
“Uh, kid?” Sans’ voice is flat. “Why is your HP low?”  
You just hug him tighter, keeping your face hidden.  
“How did you get hurt?” Sans’ words are flat.   
You look up at him and tell him you took a fall and that you’re sorry you didn’t just stay home with everyone today. You tell him that you want to talk to him about your nightmares tonight, that they’re getting worse, and that you were just running away from one.  
“What?” Sans seems genuinely confused. “Were you sleep running or something?” He sighs and pats your head, turning you both inside. “I’ve never slept on the run before, you’ll have to show me that one.” He chuckles. “Just thinking about it makes me hungry… Could say I’m famished because I’m no skin and all bones.”  
You smile as he laughs at his own pun, feeling the dark memories that had chased you down the mountain seem to fade away.


	10. Chapter 10

You stay up late, despite your secret adventure Underground, it is Saturday after all. With the autumn advancing quickly Asgore decided to try his hand at grilling. So, you have grilled hotdogs and spaghetti together which was pretty good.  
You ask Toriel if you could go outside to look at the stars but she told you that it was too cold so you asked Sans, who told you the same.  
DETERMINED, you go to Papyrus.  
“OF COURSE HUMAN!” Papyrus says excitedly, immediately picking you up and rushing to the door.  
You cling to Papyrus’ back excitedly as he bounds up the side of the house and pulls you both onto the roof.  
“THE STARS HAVE GOTTEN CLEARER SINCE WE FIRST CAME TO THE SURFACE!” Papyrus observes as you both sit watching the clouds move across the night sky. “IT’S STILL HARD FOR EVEN I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, TO BELIEVE THAT WE’RE HERE!”  
You nod, understanding. You sit in Papyrus’ lap, bundled in Sans’ hoodie, and watch as the stars overhead shine brightly.   
Across the sky a star flies, a silver tale trailing behind it. Papyrus is amazed by the shooting star, shouting for everyone inside to come see the star, and you quickly squeeze your eyes shut.  
You wish, with all your heart, that nothing ever changes and that you can stay with your new family forever.   
Eventually you begin to drift off, your eyes becoming heavy as you stare into the night sky. You struggle to stay awake, you don’t want to sleep. You didn’t want to have another nightmare, but you were really tired from the day.   
Your eyes close against your will and you lean against Papyrus.   
You’re running down the hall, you can hear the tiles behind you shattering. The floor behind you crumbles into black sludge that devours all in it’s path. You keep running, your heart in your chest.  
It gets closer and hands reach out from the sludge towards you. Something clamps down around your ankle and you fall. Looking back terror floods your chest as a molten, melting, face comes from the black sludge pulling you in.   
Chara…  
You’re pulled deeper and deeper into the sludge, drowning and choking on it as you go. Your eyes open and you’re walking through Snowden with a knife in hand. The monsters all cower, all try to hide, but it’s too late. One after another they turn to dust until the only one blocking your way is Papyrus.  
“I CAN SEE THAT YOU ARE SHAKING IN YOUR BOOTS!” Papyrus says, holding out his arms in an offered hug. “I SPARE YOU!”  
Papyrus is SPARING you.  
Your hand clenches around the knife and your legs run forward.  
Your hand with the knife raises and-  
You wake with a start and leap from your bed. You crash into your door, spastically trying to open it and then running full speed down the hall.  
You run straight into Papyrus’ room door and struggle to open it.  
“HUMAN?” Papyrus is out of bed, sleepy and confused.  
You lunge at the tall skeleton and he falls back onto his racecar bed.   
“H-HUMAN?” Papyrus is confused as you hug him tightly, unintentional tears pouring from your eyes. “WHAT’S WRONG HUMAN?”  
You cry, begging him not to go away and apologize emphatically.   
“COME NOW HUMAN, WHY WOULD I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, GO AWAY?” Papyrus asks, trying to comfort you. “THOUGH I UNDERSTAND YOUR FEAR, MANY WOULD BE DISROUGHT SHOULD I CHOOSE TO LEAVE NEW HOME, BUT FEAR NOT HUMAN. I WOULDN’T LEAVE YOU OR SANS BEHIND.” He pats your head and grins down at you. “I PROMISE HUMAN, I WON’T GO AWAY.”  
You look up at him and try to smile but the image of his head sliding off his shoulders flares in your mind. Your tears renew and you cling to him tighter.  
“OH HUMAN,” Papyrus is at a loss. “PLEASE DON’T CRY, IF YOU CRY I MIGHT START TO CRY.”  
The door opens behind you and Papyrus’ face becomes relieved.  
“What’s going on bro?” Sans yawns tiredly.   
“I DON’T KNOW SANS, THE HUMAN THINKS THAT I’M GOING TO LEAVE.” Papyrus explains. “I KEEP TELLING THEM I’M NOT GOING TO LEAVE BUT THEY WON’T STOP CRYING.”  
“Oh.” Sans sighs and you feel a boney hand on your shoulder. “Have a nightmare kiddo?”  
You nod, clinging as tightly as you can to Papyrus and burying your face into his pajama top.   
“Is everything alright?” Asgore’s voice rumbles from the door, the King of monsters looking sleepy. “Toriel and I heard noises.”  
“Yeah, the kid just had a nightmare.” Sans says. “Where is Tori?”  
“Oh, I told her I would check on it since my bedroom was closer.” Asgore explains, frowning as he watches you cling to Papryus who’s own eye sockets had begun to water. “Should I go get her?”  
“Nah, we can take care of this.” Sans waves him off. “No need to bother her, you’re both the busy ones. We got this.”   
“Very well.” Asgore says and you feel a fuzzy hand gently pat your head. “Feel better Frisk, if you need us you know where we are.”  
You nod your head against Papyrus’ pajamas and watch Asgore leave. Sans sighs and climbs up onto the bed next to you and Papyrus.  
“Alright kiddo, what happened?” Sans asks.  
You shake your head, finally letting go of Papyrus and scooting over to the smaller skeleton before wrapping your arms tightly around him.  
“Oof!” Sans is surprised by the strength of your hug. “Take it easy on me kid, I like going to hug town as much as you do but breakin a bone isn’t humerus.”   
You giggle at the pun as Papyrus snaps.  
“NO PUNS IN MY ROOM SANS!” Papyrus snaps.  
“Heh, sure bro.” Sans chuckles. “Alright kiddo, you feeling any better?”  
You nod and let go of him, looking between the skeletons.  
You tell them that you’re afraid of having another nightmare and ask if you can go watch TV.  
“Eh, I’m kinda tired.” Sans chuckles sheepishly.  
“YES AND TOMORROW UNDYNE AND I ARE TRAINING TOGETHER.” Papyrus explains. “BUT FEAR NOT! I SHALL PROTECT YOU FROM YOUR NIGHTMARES!”  
You ask him how and Papyrus falters.  
“WELL, NO NIGHTMARE WOULD DARE TO ENTER MY PRESENSE!” Papyrus explains. “I SHALL STAY WITH YOU UNTIL YOU FALL BACK ASLEEP TO MAKE SURE THAT NONE COME!”  
You ask him what about after he leaves? What if they come back then?  
“NYEH?” Papyrus deflates and looks at Sans who sighs.  
“Alright, both of you get comfy.” Sans says, taking a book from the bookshelf. “And scoot over.”  
You’re sandwiched between Papyrus and Sans as the smaller skeleton reads to you both “Fluffy Bunny”.  
Your eyes begin to droop before you know it and you’re suddenly aware of how comfortable and warm you are between the two skeletons. Papyrus is snoring next to you as Sans finishes the story and puts the book away.   
Your dunkle returns to the bedside and pulls the covers up snuggly to both your chins.  
“Night bro,” Sans pat’s Papyrus’ hand. “Night kiddo.” He pats your hand, you weakly clutch his hand.  
All you can manage is a sleepy whine, you don’t want him to go.  
“Alight, I’ll stay until you fall asleep.” Sans chuckles and lays beside you.  
The nightmares don’t come back that night as you sleep between your two dunkles.   
You wake up and find that you’re alone, snuggled up comfortably in Papyrus’ race car bed.   
The smells of pancakes and cinnamon reach your nose and your stomach growls hungrily.   
A soft knock on the door surprises you and you call to whoever knocked on it.  
“Just me kiddo.” Sans opens the door, his usual lazy grin in place. “Wanted to see if you were awake, breakfast is almost ready. How’d you sleep?”  
You smile and tell him much better before apologizing for worrying everyone.  
“Eh, it’s fine.” Sans shrugs. “You’ll need to tell everyone else you’re good though, you really worried Papyrus.” He comes to sit beside you on the bed. “So, now that you’re not shaking so much that you’re rattling MY bones, wanna tell me what happened?”  
You recall the dream and suddenly you’re not hungry anymore. You tell Sans that most of the time your nightmares were just of the genocide runs, either killing or being killed. That in and of itself is bad enough but then you tell him about the black mass that had drown you the previous night before you started killing again. You pull you knees to your chest, thinking.  
You want to tell him about Chara but… Would he believe you? Would he think that you were just trying to blame your actions on someone else? What if he thought you were crazy?  
You ask him if he’s ever felt like he wasn’t in control, like someone else was making him do things.  
“Honestly?” Sans’ smile waivers. “Every day in the Undergound. Every RESET, every fight, all of it. It wore me down to nothing.” He meets your eyes. “Have you?”  
You hesitate, still doubtful, before beginning. You tell him that you still feel guilty for everything you’ve done and that you’ll do everything you can to make up for it even if it takes you the rest of your life. But, you were never alone during THOSE runs. There was always someone else, with you, who helped you along the way.  
“Another monster?” Sans asks.  
You nod then pause and shake your head. What was Chara?  
You tell him you don’t know but it was a voice, in your head, that sometimes spoke to you. They often helped guide your blade, helped you dodge, helped you do everything. You ask if it’s normal to do things without meaning to or trying to, like your body just moving on it’s own.  
“Eh, no that’s not normal.” Sans’ words come slowly. “Are you… Has this been happening lately?”  
You shake your head.  
“When you say that they “helped” you… Just how much helping did they do?” Sans asks.   
You think… You explain that it always started as small stuff, helping you dodge and actually dealing the killing blows because you’d always hesitate and they’d become impatient.  
Sans pauses, his eyes going completely black. You see sweat form on his skull.  
Just as you reach out to get his attention your stomach growls loudly.  
“Sounds like you’re hungry.” San’s eyes are alight again and his lazy grin has returned. “Come on kiddo, breakfast should be ready.”  
You ask him if he’s okay.  
“Eh,” Sans shrugs, climbing off the bed. “honestly, I just need some time to think. You know, clear the cobwebs out.” He ruffles your hair. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll talk about this stuff more later. Alright?”  
You nod and follow him downstairs to find massive stacks of pancakes made.  
After a massive breakfast you nurse an aching stomach in front of the television with Sans while everyone goes about their day. Papyrus goes to Undyne’s for training. Asgore spends the day working on the garden and hedges. Toriel makes a pie and reads a book nearby. It was nice.   
You fight Sans for the remote a few times, the skeleton using blue to keep it away from you sometimes. Once you nearly fell off the couch but you were caught in blue and lowered back to the soft cushions. More than once you fell asleep, napping even through lunch. You hadn’t realized how tired you’ve been lately, with your constant nightmares. But the naps helped and by evening you begin to feel sorta normal.  
“Sleep is important for a growing child.” Toriel smiles as she tucks you into bed, making sure that you’re warm and snug. “Do you want the curtains open, the stars are shining brightly.”  
You nod drowsily, already beginning to drift back to sleep. After all of the naps you’d taken that day the idea of nightmares didn’t even faze you, you hadn’t had a single dream all day. You fall asleep quickly, unafraid of the coming nightmares.  
Darkness…  
You’re surrounded…  
You can’t breathe…  
When you open your mouth to scream it fills your lungs like water rushing in.  
You’re strangling.  
“Don’t forget about me, partner.” A voice whispers all around you.   
You reach out, tears pouring down your face, as you gasp desperately trying to breathe.  
“The game’s not over yet.” The same voice whispers. “As long as we can reset the game continues.”  
You try to move, try to lunge, try to do something.  
You collide with something hard, your shoulder hurting from your collision.   
Air, merciful air, fills your lungs as tears and sweat pour down your face. It’s still dark all around you but you can breathe. You lay in a fetal position, gulping in the air, and just breathing.   
You struggle against the darkness that still holds you to discover that it was just your blanket. You’d fallen out of your bed.   
Shaking, and still taking deep gasping breaths, you rise to your feet. You stumble out of your blankets and into the hall. You didn’t want to be alone, you just didn’t want to be alone, surely someone would understand that. You try to think, you don’t want to bother Asgore or Toriel because they most likely had important things to during the week. You’d also already kept Sans and Papyrus up late the previous night…  
You stop in the hall and feel lost. Who could you turn to? Sans kept telling you to come to him. Toriel would always want to know if you were upset. What should you do?  
You turn around and go to the living room. As you enter the living room you notice that the kitchen light is on and you peek around the corner.   
“Damn dreams…” You hear Sans sigh and you see the skeleton sitting at the table, clutching a mug of something steaming. He wasn’t smiling and the dark circles under his eyesockets seemed to stand out in the kitchen light.  
You ask him if he’s okay, startling your dunkle in the process. His eye flashed blue but it faded to normal as his gaze fell on you.  
“Oh, hey kiddo, what’re you doing up?” His casual smile quickly returns and he walks over to you. “Looking for a snack?”  
You shake your head and tell him you had a nightmare.  
“Oh...” His eyes darken just for a moment before he smiles and takes a long drink from his mug. “How about you park your tail bone and we can talk. I’ve been wanting to talk to you since this morning anyway.”   
You nod and quickly pour yourself a cup of milk before taking a seat. Sans’ eyes follow you as you move about the kitchen, he even uses blue to help you get a cup from the cupboard.  
“Comfy?” Sans asks once you take the chair right beside him.   
You nod and sip on your milk.   
“So… What happened in your nightmare tonight?” Sans asks.   
You’re hesitant but tell him about the drowning and the voice that you heard.  
“No memories this time?” Sans asks.  
You shake your head, just the drowning and the voice.  
“Okay…” Sans sighs, rubbing his skull. “I…” He sighs. “I’m gonna need some time to work this out kiddo. I’m sorry I don’t have anything to help you, right now.” He looks at you, his usual smile was tired. “But I’m going to start looking tomorrow morning after you go to school.”  
You nod and thank him, focusing on your milk. You ask Sans if he has nightmares too and his grin turns from tired to cynical.  
“Eh, every once in a while.” He chuckles. “Nothing too new lately though, haven’t had much new material to work with I think.”  
You ask him what he means and he stares at you silently for a few minutes. Instead of answering you Sans finishes his drink.  
“Come on kid, finish your drink.” He says, pointing at your milk. “You’ve got school tomorrow and with how much you’re struggling in math you can’t afford to fall asleep during class.”   
You pout and he chuckles.  
“I might be a numbSKULL but I’m not gonna let you be one.” Sans says, putting his mug in the sink.   
You sigh and finish your drink. Sans walks you back to your room and tucks you in.   
You ask him if he’ll stay with you, hoping that if he does the nightmares won’t come back.  
“I’ve got some stuff to look into.” Sans tells you, pulling the blankets up to your chin. “If you have another nightmare though I’ll just be in the living room, alright?”  
You nod and settle back.  
Time passes but you can’t fall back asleep.   
You toss and turn in your blankets but sleep evades you. Eventually you give up and wonder around your room.   
You repack your backpack for school the next day and get dressed for the day. You think about going to the living room and asking Sans if you could watch television.  
Tap tap…  
Just as you go to the door to see if Sans was still awake something taps at your window.  
You go to your window curiously and see that the dawn had just barely started to break.   
You open the window, cold air rushing into your room, and look down to see Flowey there.  
“Howdy!” The flower calls to you.   
You tell him good morning and ask what he’s doing.  
“Can you get away before school?” Flowey asks. “I got something to tell you.”   
You look around and tell him that you’ll try to sneak out really quick.  
Grabbing your back pack you creep through the house. The hardest part to get past will be Sans if he’s still in the living room but you we willing to try.  
You creep into living room and your heart sinks, the computer is still on and Sans is sitting at it. You hold your breath for a second, thinking of what to do.  
You didn’t like lying to anyone in your family especially Sans, not just because he could tell when you were lying, but how could you justify sneaking out of the house at dawn on a school day?  
“Zzz…” Sans’ snore catches your attention and you realize that he’s asleep at the computer.   
Relieved, you grin. Thank goodness that Sans is such a lazybones.  
You creep as quietly as you can past him and out the front door.   
You’re careful to close the door as softy as possible. Thankfully it closed silently.  
“Nice!” Flowey was visibly impressed, startling you from behind. “Anyone know you’re gone?”  
You shake your head and adjust your backpack. Sans’ hoodie is puffier than your original one and you have to tighten your backpack straps.  
“You look like you’re running away.” Flowey says. “What’s in the bag?”  
You tell him it’s your school supplies.  
“School?” Flowey looks disgusted. “Come on, we’ve got bigger things to do than SCHOOL.”   
You cock your head to the side and ask what?  
“We need to find all the SAVE points!” Flowey snaps at you. “As long as you can save and reset the game continues!”  
You freeze, the flower’s words bringing back your nightmare the previous night. You ask Flowey if he’d seen any indication of Chara.  
“No, Frisk.” Flowey becomes annoyed. “I haven’t. Come on! Think about it! The game never ends! You’ve just found the next level!”   
You sigh and crouch to the ground, letting the flower climb up onto your backpack.   
The save point was near the entrance to New Home Reservation but you have to be fast because you need to be back before anyone wakes up.   
“Pfff!” Flowey sticks his tongue out at you as you begin down the walkway from your house. “Forget them! We’ve got bigger things to do!”  
You begin to argue with Flowey but, just as you tell him that everyone would worry, you suddenly go blue. You’re frozen in place, magic holding you still.   
“I was wondering who you snuck out to see Saturday.” Sans’ voice startles you and an overwhelming sense of dread fills you. “Asgore said you’d made a friend, wish I could say that it’s nice to leaf ya. But I hate weeds.”   
You’re suddenly lurched back to the house, Sans standing in the doorway, and Flowey was left floating up the walkway still covered in blue. You land at Sans’ feet, hitting the outside of the house hard enough to daze you but not hurt.  
“So, what was that you were telling my kid about bigger things to do?” Sans asks Flowey.   
“NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS TRASHBAG!” Flowey yells angrily at Sans. “PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!”  
“Nahuhuh.” Sans shakes his head, his wide grin in place as he chuckles. “Wrong answer, so let’s try again. You’re going to tell me what I want to know or you’re going to have a Bad Time.”  
“BITE ME!” Flowey yells back at Sans.  
“Wrong answer weed.” Sans’ eye lit bright blue and his smile grew as wide as you’d seen it.   
You lunge for Sans’ hand as he’s about to snap his fingers.  
The skeleton looks down at you in surprise before his smile turned cold.  
“Go inside kiddo.” He tells you, moving to the side.   
You shake your head and ask him to let Flowey go.   
“Heh, no dice kid.” Sans’ grin is unwavering as you suddenly go blue again.   
One moment you’re asking Sans to let Flowey go at the front door, the next you fall onto your bed and your backpack hits you painfully in the stomach where it falls on you.  
You scramble off your bed and run as fast as you can to the front door. What would Sans do to the flower? You panic, your mind recalling what he had done to you when you had killed everyone he’d loved.  
But Flowey hadn’t done that, not in this run. Flowey’s changed, just like you. Sure he was mean and grumpy sometimes but he’d never hurt anyone. He hadn’t hurt you this time.   
You find the front door closed and, despite trying to pull it open it won’t budge. You rush through the kitchen, past Toriel and Papyrus who were just coming in and nearly run into Asgore who’s drowsily configuring the coffee maker.   
Out the back door, through the backyard, around the house, and you try to shove open the gate. You can hear Flowey on the other side of the tall privacy fence. The gate won’t open, it was locked from the other side.  
“FRISK!” Flowey’s panicked shout makes your own worry rise.  
You call out to Sans and plead him not to hurt Flowey.   
“Go back inside kid!” There’s a dangerous warning to his casual tone, the same warning that promised a bad time was in someone’s near future. “Now!”  
You refuse, DETERMINED to make him listen to you.   
Looking around quickly you back up before running as fast as you can at the gate. You leap and manage to grab the very edge of the top ledge of the gate.   
Heaving yourself up with all your might you swing over the gate and fall to the ground on the other side.  
You look up to see Flowey, still trapped in blue, and seven or eight bone floating around him all aimed at the flower. Sans stands, his smile still wide, arm outstretched and hand glowing blue. His eye was flaming blue.  
In a tidal wave memories of the Judgement Hall crash back into you. You’re frozen, paralyzed in the terror of memories, as both Sans’ and Flowey’s voices become muffled in your ears.  
You can’t move until you see one of the bones right in front of Flowey aim at the center of Flowey’s face. A rushing in your ears that sounded like water startled you as you leap to your feet and put yourself between the bone and Flowey just as the weapon thrusts forward.  
You clench your eyes shut, anticipating the pain, but it never comes.   
“What are you doing kid?!” Sans’ voice startles you.  
You expect him to try to make you blue again and prepare as best you can to resist, you can feel the DETERMINATION to protect your friend filling you. But you don’t go blue.  
You tell Sans that Flowey is your friend and you won’t let anyone hurt your friend.  
“A friend?!” Sans snaps. “Do you remember what he’d do kid?!”  
You nod and tell him that you remember everything everyone had done. But that was all in a past that didn’t exist in this timeline. You ask him to let Flowey go.  
“Is this what you haven’t been telling me?” Sans asks, his voice soft. “Have you been protecting this weed all this time?”  
You hesitate before admitting that you had been hanging out with Flowey for a while now. You promise to answer all of Sans’ questions if he’ll just let Flowey go.  
“Heh, I don’t think so.” Sans chuckles. “I’m not going to give this weed the chance to hurt anyone again. Now move.”   
You stand firm, DETERMINED.  
The back door opens and closes, you can hear Asgore’s happy whistling.   
“Sans! Frisk!” Asgore calls from the other side of the gate. “Toriel just finished making breakfast! What are you doing out here so early anyway?”  
You hear the King of monsters fidget with the gate. Looking back at Sans you see that the Skeleton’s eyes have gone completely black but his hand is still glowing, holding Flowey trapped.   
“Darn gate keeps getting stuck.” Asgore chuckles, pushing the gate open and walking through. “So, what are you two up… To…” The King of monsters pauses at the strange sight before him. “Um…” He looks between the three of you. “What’s going on here?”  
“Just doing some weeding.” Sans says casually. “Seems this weed was giving Frisk some bad ideas, so I was just getting rid of it.”  
You quickly shake your head and tell Asgore that Flowey’s your friend, the one that you’d told him about, and you didn’t want Sans to hurt him. Flowey, throughout all of this, is silent.   
“Oh…” Asgore looks again between the three of you. “Sans, how about you put, Flowey was it?” He looks to you for confirmation, you nod. “Flowey down and we can go inside and talk about this.”  
“The second his roots touch the ground he’ll disappear.” Sans replies looking back at the flower. “He’s done it before.”   
“Oh…” Asgore seems at a loss before smiling widely. “Frisk, can you go to the shed and get a pot for me? We’ll just put Flowey in it until we sort all this out.”  
You eagerly nod and run to the shed where you grab the nearest pot, a small little round one. Running back you give the pot to Asgore.  
“Alright Sans, just put Flowey in this and we can go inside and talk.” Asgore holds the pot firm.  
Grudgingly, his casual grin icy, Sans obeys Asgore’s directions. Despite Flowey’s protests at being put in a pot, you’re relieved that he wasn’t hurt.   
“HOW DARE YOU?!” Fowey shouts furiously as Asgore carries his pot inside. “LET ME OUT OF THIS INFERNAL POT THIS INSTANT!”  
You follow them inside, Sans close behind you.  
“Asgore, who’s this?” Toriel asks as she and Papyrus look out from the kitchen curiously.  
“This is Flowey, Frisk’s new friend.” Asgore says with a smile over Flowey’s angry protests at being potted. “Sans is concerned that he’s dangerous though. Oh, I’m sorry Flowey, you are a boy aren’t you?”  
“OF COURSE I AM YOU FLUFFY IDIOT!” Flowey roars angrily.  
“Oh, well,” Toriel is perplexed but smiles none the less. “Let’s have breakfast and then figure this out. Frisk, my child, you need to eat up and get your things for school.”  
You nod and quickly wolf down your breakfast. After retrieving your bag Papyrus hands you your lunch box. Both you and your tall Dunkle wait at the door for Sans who hasn’t said anything since Asgore potted Flowey.   
“Pap, I’m gonna stay here and work out the weed problem.” Sans says, he doesn’t look at you at all. “Make sure Frisk get’s to school alright?”  
“NYEH HEH!” Papyrus chuckles, leading you out the door with him. “OH COURSE BROTHER! I AM A MOST EXCELLENT GUIDE!”  
You wave back at Sans, feeling you DETERMINATION slipping away, as the smaller skeleton closes the door without even looking at you.


	11. Chapter 11

The entire school day passes slowly. You can’t help but worry about Flowey. Surely Toriel won’t let Sans hurt the flower. Not that you blames Sans for his caution, but you hoped that he’d spare Flowey. Afterall, Sans didn’t know that the flower was actually the remains of Asriel.  
Over recess you wonder the back of the playground and try to find a spot where the teachers couldn’t see you. You take a risk and call Alphys, knowing that if you’re caught the teachers would take away your cellphone.  
“F-Frisk?” Alphys soundsurprised to get a call from you. “Wh-What’s up? A-Aren’t you i-in school right n-now?”  
You tell her that you’re at recess and ask if she could do you a favor.  
“I-I’m helping Lady T-Toriel right n-now.” Alphis explains. “F-Flowey’s here. D-Did you kn-know?”  
You freeze, why would they have called Alphys over?  
You hear Toriel in the background and the phone shuffles on the other line.  
“My child?” Toriel’s voice comes through now.  
You gulp and tell her hello. You tell Toriel that you’re worried about Flowey.  
“Oh, do not fret my child.” Toriel assures you. “Alphys is just finishing his checkup. She’s said he’s just fine. Dree-your dad will make sure he’s nice and comfy in a better pot for his roots.”  
Relieved you thank her for watching over your friend.  
“It’s my pleasure.” Toriel says happily over the phone. “Also, I think that you should apologize to your dunkle tonight. He’s very worried about you.”  
You go silent, the guilt you had been trying to ignore coming to the surface. You tell Toriel that you’re worried Sans doesn’t trust you anymore.  
“I would tell him that.” Toriel tells you. “And apologize if it’s true then try to fix it. You can always come to me if you need help though. You do know that, don’t you my child?”  
Unexpected tears begin to fill your eyes and you tell her that you know. You tell Toriel that you love her and that you can’t wait to get home that night.  
“I love you too my child.” Toriel says. “I’ve asked Papyrus and Sans to pick you up from school today so be good and wait for them at the front desk alright?”  
You promise her you will as the recess bell rings. You quickly say goodbye and hurry inside.  
Science class was a nightmare since you still didn’t know what you were doing for your project. You look about at the other children, most of whom had teamed up with their friends. Ms. Pepper notices that you’re lost and helps you some.  
“I can assign you to a group if you’d like to do a group project?” Ms. Pepper offers.  
You shake your head and explain that you don’t want to force anyone to work with you. You just don’t know what to do for a project.  
“Well…” Ms. Pepper kneels beside your desk. “Here, I want you to pull out a piece of paper and pencil. Write down questions that you have and then when you’re done bring it to me.”  
You ask her why.  
“Because science is about answering questions.” Ms. Pepper explains. “And it should be something that you’re interested in. So, write at least ten questions and then bring it to me. Alright?”  
You nod and stare at the page as Ms. Pepper goes to help other students.  
Questions that you have?  
You begin to write.  
\- How does the sun come up?  
\- Why can’t the moon and sun and stars and clouds all be in the sky at once?  
\- Why does it rain?  
\- How are people different from monsters?  
\- Why do people hate monsters?  
\- What’s magic?  
\- How do you get rid of nightmares?  
\- Why are some mommies and daddies good and others bad?  
\- Why don’t people like me but monsters do?  
\- Why am I lonely all the time?  
\- Is it possible to be lonely even when lots and lots of people love you?  
You stare at the page and carefully count the questions. 11 Questions. You smile because you wrote more than ten and hurry up to Ms. Pepper with the page.  
“You’re done?” Ms. Pepper smiles warmly at you and takes the page. “Alright, let’s go to my desk and see if we can figure out a science project for you.”  
You wait eagerly by Ms. Pepper’s desk, happy that you were getting help with your project, and watch as she reads through the questions.  
“You could so a poster about the moon and sun.” Ms. Pepper says after reading the first few. “That would be very interesting I think, but it’s a little high level. You’d have to ask your parents for help.”  
You nod and she continues to read. For some reason, Ms. Pepper’s face becomes confused and then worried. She reads each question, her pencil running under the words as she reads, and it stops at the end of the last question.  
“Frisk?” Ms. Pepper smiles at you, putting your questions in her desk drawer. “Is everything okay at home?”  
You nod and tell her that you get to watch the stars and nap over the weekend.  
“Oh.” Your teacher’s voice is soft. “Tell me, are your parents still picking you up every day after school?”  
You nod and tell her that sometimes your dunkles or Undyne and Alphys would pick you up.  
“Who’s picking you up today?” Ms. Pepper begins to write on a clean white sheet of paper.  
You tell her Sans and Papyrus.  
“Alright.” She smiles at you and gestures to your seat. “Go back to your seat and I want you to look in your science book for the chapter about the weather. Read that and take notes about what you’ve read. Alright?”  
You nod and hurry back to your seat. You’re relieved that you have an idea for your science fair project and begin to read the chapter. Throughout the rest of class you notice your teacher making several phone calls on the classroom phone and she looks at you a lot.  
“Alright,” Ms. Pepper claps her hands together to get everyone’s attention. “class, please clean up your projects and get ready to go to the gym for PE.”  
You put your book and paper away in your desk as your classmates do the same. Your class lines up at the door and Ms. Pepper gently takes your hand.  
“Frisk, I’d like you to stay here and help me with something.” Ms. Pepper tells you, pulling you from the line and taking you back to your desk. “Is that alright?”  
You nod, what choice did you have? It’s not like you particularly liked PE anyway, but it was one of the easier classes for you.  
Sitting back at your desk you wait as the PE teacher shows up and walks your class to the Gym. Ms. Pepper goes back to the classroom phone and dials a number.  
“Yes, are they here?” Ms. Pepper asks as you watch curiously. “Alright, I’ll bring Frisk to the counselor’s office now.”  
Something in your stomach twists and you suddenly don’t feel comfortable. Why did this seem so familiar?  
Ms. Pepper goes back to her desk and pulls out your questions again before taking your hand.  
You ask why you have to go to the counselor’s office as you’re lead from the room.  
“Mr. Brax just wants to talk to you is all.” Ms. Pepper smiles down at you.  
You go silent. This felt so familiar…  
You’re lead to the front office and into one of the doors behind the front desk. Inside there are a lot of brightly colored posters on the walls interspersed with formal looking documents. A bookshelf full of books with titles like “Be the best YOU that YOU can be”, “Chicken Soup for the Child’s Soul”, and “It’s Okay to be You” on the one side. A large desk dominates the space with two chairs sitting in front of it, a chair behind it, and a desk in the corner. Sitting behind the desk is a man with bright blonde hair tied up in a bun on the very center of his head and wearing a pink polo shirt, a blue sweater tied around his shoulders. His bright smile makes your throat go tight and your stomach clenches, he’s too happy.  
“Hey there buddy!” The counselor smiles at you and comes around the desk and crouching in front of you. “I’m Ken, you’re Frisk right?”  
You nod nervously, clutching to Ms. Pepper for dear life.  
“No need to be nervous Bucko.” Ken playfully nudges you. “I just want to be your friend.”  
Ms. Pepper nudges you into the office and you nervously sit in one of the chairs in front of the desk.  
“Thank you Mary.” Ken takes your paper with questions on it from Ms. Pepper. “I’ll take it from here, could you bring Frisk’s things to the front office?”  
Your stomach twists anxiously as Ms. Pepper leaves.  
“Alright,” Ken smiles widely, his eyes scanning over the paper, before he sits down at the desk. “How’s everything going Frisk?”  
You shrug and tell him that it’s good you suppose.  
“Ms. Pepper told me you’re having a hard time in class.” Ken tells you. “How about you tell me about it?”  
You ask why you should tell him.  
“Because we’re friends.” Ken says. “And I want to help you.”  
You tell him you just need help with your science project.  
“Why haven’t your parents helped you?” Ken asks.  
You tell him that they’re busy, they are the King and Queen of monsters. Usually you get Sans or Alphys to help you with your homework, Papyrus and Undyne help when they can. You go silent, thinking about how Sans wouldn’t even look at you that morning.  
“Has something happened at home?” Ken asks. “You don’t seem happy.”  
You shrug and tell him that you made a mistake and now you don’t know how to fix it.  
“What happened?” Ken asks.  
You shrug, you don’t want to tell him. Something in your stomach twists uncomfortably.  
“If I remember correctly…” Ken opens a draw of the desk and pulls out a file. “You’re adopted by Asgore and Toriel Dreemur, both are monsters. You have two listed uncles, Sans and Papyrus. Is this the Sans and Papyrus that help you with your homework?”  
You nod.  
“Everyone at home is a monster, except you?” Ken asks.  
You nod again and tell him that you love your family. It’s just that you sometimes you had bad dreams and sometimes you felt lonely. Tears fill your eyes and you stop yourself.  
“It’s okay Frisk, go on.” Ken hands you a tissue. “You can tell me, I’m your friend.”  
You shake your head and bite your lip, you don’t want to talk to anyone. You just want to go home.  
Ken keeps pressing you to tell him what’s wrong and you eventually dissolve into crying.  
“What?” Ken asks as someone knocks on the door.  
“I’m sorry Ken, but some of Frisk’s guardians are here to get them.” The secretary who’s always sitting at the front desk says from a narrow crack in the door. “They’re just outside.”  
“Final bell hasn’t rung yet.” Ken dismisses her. “Don’t tell them that Frisk is here.”  
You look, panicked, between the door and Ken. Memories begin to fill your mind. This is how you had been taken away from your parents when you’d been six. The school had held you behind after the busses had come and the social service worker had come.  
“Alright, now, let’s try again Frisk.” Ken sighs before smiling at you. “Do you feel lonely at home? Does everyone there take care of you?”  
You tell Ken that you want to go home.  
“After we finish talking Frisk.” Ken says. “Come on Frisk, just tell me about what it’s like at home for you. Are you lonely there? Do the monsters take care of you?”  
You begin to feel angry and tell him that you want to go home again.  
“Frisk.” Ken’s voice is stern. “Just answer my questions.”  
You take a deep breath and, feeling suddenly completely calm, scream at the top of your lungs.  
There’s a scuffling outside and the sounds of raised voices.  
“Frisk!” Ken says over your constant screaming. “Calm down Frisk! This isn’t going to do anything!”  
You hear the sound of feet landing behind you and Ken is suddenly glowing blue.  
“You alright kiddo?” Sans’ voice behind you makes you stop screaming as the door bursts open.  
“HUMAN!” Papyrus bursts into the office. “ARE YOU HURT?! WHAT’S HAPPENED?! ARE YOU UNDER ATTACK?!”  
You leap out of your seat and rush to your dunkles, clinging to Papyrus who scoops you up in his arms.  
“So, why’s our kid in this office with you screaming like someone’s ripping their teeth out and not in class?” Sans asks Ken calmly, his lazy smile in place, as the blue magic holding Ken in place faded.  
“HE WAS STEALING YOUR TEETH?!” Papyrus looks panicked.  
You giggle and shake your head, wrapping your arms around his neck vertebras and hugging him tightly.  
“Frisk made some concerning comments in class today.” Ken was visibly shaken, retrieving your paper with questions on it from his desk. “I’m the counselor, it’s my job to make sure that all children here are alright and I have some serious concerns about Frisk.”  
“Oh, is that all?” Sans takes the page from him. “Shoulda just called Tori, we’ll take it from here.”  
“Uh, no I have my own concerns and I don’t think that you’re the best people to address this.” Ken straightens his shirt and frowns down at Sans. “Now, you and your friend can wait in the lobby until I’ve finished my assessment.”  
You can feel the tension in the room rise.  
The final bell rang and Sans grinned widely at the councilor.  
“School’s out,” He said simply. “So, sorry teach. But time for all kids to go home.” Sans turns towards you and Papyrus, his eyes black, still holding the paper. “Come on kiddo, Paps, let’s head home.”  
“This isn’t finished!” Ken snaps as the three of you leave the office. “I’ll make a report about this!”  
“Sweet, tell me when it’s done and I’ll come by and grade it for you.” Sans waves him off as he and Papyrus walk you out of the building.  
“I’LL TAKE THIS.” Papyrus smiles widely for the very pale secretary, picking up your backpack as you walk out. “THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR KEEPING THIS SAFE FOR OUR LITTLE HUMAN.”  
You watch, holding tightly to Papyrus, as several of the adults from the front office watch as you leave with the skeletons.  
“So, what was all that about kid?” Sans asks as the three of you walk out of the school.  
You shrug, still holding onto Papyrus tightly.  
“ARE YOU ALRIGHT HUMAN?” Papyrus asks. “YOU’RE VERY QUIET.”  
You tell them that you’re afraid that you’re going to be put back in the orphanage.  
“Now why would we let something like that happen?” Sans asks you. “Wouldn’t be very good Dunkles if we let some polo wearing beach boy take you away from us.”  
You feel the tears fill your eyes and you tremble as you clutch tightly to Papyrus.  
“HUMAN?” Papyrus stops walking. “SANS, THEY’RE REALLY UPSET.”  
You can’t bring yourself to look at Sans, remembering how he’d closed the door on you just that morning. You don’t want to see disappointment there, you just want everything to be alright.  
“Take my hand Paps…” Sans says. “I know a shortcut home. Heh, I’ll lead the way if you cheer up the kid.”  
“OF COURSE!” Papyrus seems relieved. “I’LL MAKE YOU MY FAMOUS SPAGHETTI TONIGHT, HUMAN! THAT’S YOUR FAVORITE! AND WE CAN EAT NICE CREAM AND WATCH THOSE COP SHOWS THAT YOU LIKE!”  
You nod and tell them that you don’t want to go back to school.  
“I’m gonna talk to Tori about that.” Sans says. “Don’t worry kiddo, no one is taking you away from us.”  
Without thinking, you mutter that your mom and dad had told you the same thing.  
Both Sans and Papyrus are silent for a while.  
Within minutes, much less than the walk normally took, you begin to recognize the roads of New Home Reservation as Papyrus continues to carry you.  
“There you are!” The worry in Toriel’s voice makes you turn your head around and look ahead towards your home. “The school called and said that there’s been an incident. What happened?” Her eyes are full of concern as they fall on your face still red and puffy from crying.  
“Some pink polo wearing jerk kept picking on Frisk.” Sans says as Toriel takes you from Papyrus. “They were screaming by the time we got there. So we took them home.”  
“That’s not what the school said over the phone…” Toriel replies softly, hugging you tightly to her. “Frisk? What happened?”  
You tell her that councilor Ken wouldn’t leave you alone and you didn’t like it. When you had heard that he wasn’t going to let you go with Sans and Papyrus you screamed because you were afraid that they’d send you back to the orphanage.  
“What?” Toriel became worried. “Why would they take you away from us?”  
You shake your head and cling to her, pleading her not to let them take you away. You promise that you’ll be extra good for everyone and you won’t run off anymore as long as they keep you.  
“I… I understand my child.” Toriel assures you, bringing you inside and going immediately through the house to the backyard where Asgore was clearing the flower garden of the blooms that had gone brown and shriveled.  
Flowey was beside him, scowling at the monster king.  
“Asgore.” Toriel’s firm tone startles him. “We have a problem.”  
“What is it?” Asgore immediately gets to his feet, eager to help his still estranged wife.  
Toriel puts you on the ground. “Frisk, how about you bring Flowey inside. Find a place where he’s comfy alright?”  
You nod and pick Flowey up. Asgore had filled lots of rich, dark, soil into the pot and Flowey surprisingly looks comfortable.  
“This is the most insulting thing that anyone could do to me.” Flowey grumbles at you when you compliment Agores’ work.  
You ask him if he’s comfortable as you enter the house.  
“NO!” Flowey snaps at you. “I am not! This is awful!”  
You ask him if he’d like a larger pot and Flowey growls at you angrily.  
“Watch it weed.” Sans warns as you enter the living room from where he sits on the couch.  
“AND YOU!” Flowey roars at Sans. “THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! IF YOU’D JUST LEFT US ALONE I WOULDN’T BE IN THIS GOD FORSAKEN POT!”  
You look between Sans and the flower, the tension in the room becoming thick. You decide to put Flowey in the kitchen near the window so that he could look outside before rejoining Sans in the living room.  
You sit beside the skeleton and, after a few seconds of silence, tell him you’re sorry that you lied to him about Flowey and that you’d understand if he doesn’t trust you anymore.  
“Kinda hard to trust someone who’s been lying to you for months.” Sans says, flicking through the channels. “But you get that, don’t you kid?”  
You nod quietly and tell him that you’re sorry again. You offer, if he wants to, to tell him anything he wants to know. Because you want to be his friend still and you don’t want him to be mad at you anymore.  
“We’re still friends.” Sans gives you a confused look. “When did we stop being friends?”  
You mention that you’d been lying and that he wouldn’t look at you this morning after he’d found Flowey.  
“Because I was angry.” Sans tells you and points towards the kitchen. “Here I was thinking you’d had a nightmare or something and was worried about you. But instead I find you running off with a weed that had nearly killed all of us a dozen times over. So yeah, I was mad, and I’m still mad that you’d been lying to me and everyone else to protect him.”  
You stay silent, your head falling. After a while you apologize again and tell him that Flowey won’t hurt anyone again.  
“And how do you know that kid?” Sans asks, his voice now becoming annoyed. “How do you know that he’s not going to suddenly decide that killing us in our sleep is worth getting out of that pot?”  
You tell Sans because Flowey’s your friend and you trust him.  
Sans stares at you, incredulously, before bursting into laughter.  
“You’re serious?” Sans laughs. “Friend? Him? You trust him?!” He laughs so hard he has to lean against the arm of the couch for support. “So what’s that make me and Paps and everyone here? If you trust that murderous weed?”  
You tell him that everyone here is your family and that you do trust them.  
“Apparently not.” Sans retorts, suddenly no longer laughing, getting up. “Well, have fun with your new buddy kiddo.”  
You feel your heart drop as Sans walks away. You hadn’t meant for this to happen, you just hadn’t wanted anyone to get hurt.  
Going to the kitchen you get Flowey and take him to your room.  
“So, we’re friends huh?” Flowey asks you, his voice strangely soft.  
You nod and tell him that you think you are.  
“So… What’s that make you and trashbag now?” Flowey asks.  
You shrug and tell him that you don’t know but you don’t want to think about it… Instead you ask Flowey if he’d mind going to see Gaster again with you this weekend?  
“As long as you don’t pull another vanishing act again.” Flowey snaps. “And tell Dr. Scaleface we’re going too. She’s at least not a total idiot and can make sure we get in and out safely with her cameras.”  
You nod and ask Flowey if he’d come with you Friday evening after school to ask Alphys if she’d help you again.  
“Eh, not like I have anything better to do.” Flowey says. “So… You gonna tell them what you’re doing this weekend or just keep on doing what you’ve been doing?” He quickly becomes indignant. “Not that I care or anything, but mo-Toriel would worry if you take forever again. So would Asgore…”  
You think about it and then nod. Flowey’s right… You couldn’t keep lying to your friends. You would tell them the truth,that you’re going to the Underground this weekend to visit Gaster.  
“Well, this should be interesting.” Flowey grins wickedly. “I can’t wait to see trashbag’s reaction to this.”  
You sigh as someone knocks on the door.  
You tell whoever it is that the door is open and Toriel comes in.  
“Hello my child.” She smiles down at you where you sit on the floor talking to Flowey. “How are you both doing?”  
You tell her good and ask her the same.  
“I am well, I wanted to tell you that Asgore called the ambassador to the humans and asked what today was about.” Toriel explains, kneeling on the floor in front of you. “They called the school and it seems as though it was all a misunderstanding. So, tomorrow, Asgore and I will go with you and talk to the councilor and principle and get this all sorted out. Alright?”  
You nod, feeling relieved that you weren’t going to be taken away again. You ask her if she’ll tell Sans and Papyrus because you don’t know if they’re worried too.  
“Of course my child.” Toriel smiles at you, petting your hair back from your face. “Supper should be ready soon, have you finished your homework?”  
You look at the backpack on your bed and shake your head.  
“You can finish it after supper.” Toriel assures you, rising to her feet. “Would you like to come down now?”  
You shake your head and tell her you’d like to stay in your room. You tell her that you’re not really hungry.  
“Oh…” Toriel seems surprised. “Are you not feeling well?”  
You shake your head and, just as you’re about to tell her an excuse, Flowey pipes up.  
“Smileytrashbag told Frisk that he hates them!” Flowey blurts out. “He called them a liar and said he doesn’t trust Frisk anymore because they’re friends with me.”  
“What?” Toriel’s eyes narrow. “Why would Sans do that?”  
You try to explain that you and Flowey didn’t used to get along before. You then explain that some things had happened between Flowey and Sans, several examples that Flowey provided of Sans being mean to him, before you had to interject that you’d threatened a few times to break Sans’ bones.  
“Oh dear.” Toriel seems surprised before fixing Flowey with a hard look. “I will not tolerate such behavior here Flowey.”  
Flowey smiles sweetly up at Toriel. “Oh, don’t worry, I’m following Frisk’s example and have thoroughly reformed my ways.” You think you can hear sarcasm in Flowey’s words. “I would never dream of doing anything that would cause trouble for you or Asgore.”  
“Good.” Toriel nods down at him firmly. “Well, you just start on your homework Frisk and I’ll go talk with Sans. Alright?”  
You thank her and, setting Flowey’s pot down, hug her tightly. You tell her how much you love having her as your mom and that you love her.  
“I know my child.” Toriel’s face is gentle as she hugs you tightly in return. “I love you too. Now, get started on your homework.”  
You wait until she leaves before fixing Flowey with a stony look. You ask him why he told Toriel about what had happened between you and Sans.  
“Aren’t you the one trying to be more honest?” Flowey asks with a wicked grin. “I’m just helping you. Afterall, aren’t good friends supposed to help each other?”  
Your face deadpans before you sigh and put him on the bedside table. Pulling out your notebooks, homework sheets, and text books you begin to struggle through your homework. Reading and writing weren’t hard, was math and science that caused the most trouble. Normally, you’d ask Sans for help, but you didn’t feel like that was a good idea right now…  
“HUMAN!” Papyrus bursts into your room after some time. “SUPPER IS READY! I HAVE PREPARED FOR YOU MY GREATEST CREATION YET!”  
You smile up at the tall skeleton and hold up your math worksheet, asking if he knew how to answer the questions.  
“THERE’S NOTHING THAT I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, CANNOT DO!” Papyrus laughs proudly, taking the worksheet from you and looking it over. “THOUGH…” He hands it back to you, his smile a little nervous. “IT IS BEST TO DO YOUR OWN HOMEWORK! YOU’LL NEVER LEARN IT IF I HELP YOU! NYEH HEH HEH HEH!”  
“You don’t know how to do it, do you?” Flowey snaps at the skeleton dryly.  
“NYEH?” Papyrus looks at the flower before quickly speaking. “ANYWAY! SUPPER IS READY! COMES YOU BOTH MUST TRY MY CREATION!”  
You giggle and, setting your homework aside you pick up Flowey’s pot and carry him to the kitchen. Supper was nice, for the most part. Sans didn’t seem like he was mad and still made his usual puns throughout the meal. Toriel made sure everyone had plenty to eat. Papyrus was enthusiastic as everyone ate his spaghetti, his cooking having vastly improved over the last few months. Asgore asked how everyone’s day was going.  
Flowey looks at you once Asgore asks him how his day had been, the flower grinning at you mischievously. You shake your head at him, hoping he wouldn’t do whatever it was he was planning.  
“Okay, I guess.” Flowey tells the King of Monsters. “It’d be nice to see more of the Overworld though… Do you think that Frisk can take me to school with them tomorrow?”  
You pause, uncertain what the flower was getting at. You notice that Sans’ eyes have gone narrow and focus on the flower.  
“I’ll be very good for them and quiet. I just…” Flowey’s eyes grow large. “I’ve never been to a school before and it sounds like so much fun.”  
“I suppose… Toriel?” Asgore looks to her uncertainly. “I don’t think it’d be a problem, do you?”  
“Well…” Toriel fixes Flowey with a stern look before softening. “I suppose if you behave… We will have to ask the principle tomorrow if it’d be a problem.”  
“That’d make this awful pot more bearable if I got to see the world every day.” Flowey smiles happily. “Thank you!”  
You stay quiet and finish your supper as quickly as you can before taking Flowey, who’s finished his plate before you, back to your room.  
You ask him if he really wanted to go to school with you and are surprised when he tells you he does.  
“Anything that gets me out of this house and away from smileytrashbag and his annoying brother.” Flowey says flatly. “Besides, I’d imagine that there’s lots of fun I can have at your school”  
You ask him like what.  
“Oh, I don’t know.” Flowey smiles innocently at you. “I’m just a little flower after all.”  
You sigh, deep down you wouldn’t mind Flowey coming with you because then you’d at least have a friend with you. Maybe school would be more bearable with him?  
Someone knocks on the door as you put Flowey on your bedside table again and you say the door’s open.  
“That’s not how the joke goes.” Sans’ voice comes through the door.  
You feel yourself freeze up a bit as the door opens.  
“So…” The skeleton’s usual easy grin was in place and his voice light. “Tori came and talked to me…”  
You quickly apologize and tell him you hadn’t meant to say anything to her. As you try to explain you feel your DETERMINATION slipping and you drop your head.  
What good was it to explain? He didn’t trust you… It wasn’t like he’d believe you…  
“Yeah, I thought sending goat-mom after my tailbone wasn’t your style.” Sans says, his eyes looking at the flower. “But it is yours, weed. Mind letting me in on why you want to go to school with Frisk?”  
“I just want to get a good education.” Flowey’s smile is sweet and innocent. “Also to keep an eye on my good friend since you seem to be doing such a crap job of it.” He sways from side to side on his stem happily. “Besides, this should be in your favor. You hate them now, don’t you? Now you and that annoying brother of yours doesn’t even have to walk them to school anymore.”  
“Heh…” Sans’ smile becomes tight. “I don’t think so, weed. In fact, I don’t think you should be alone with the kid at all. So,” His eye flashes blue and Flowey’s pot begins to float in blue magic. “How about you make yourself comfortable in the hall for tonight?”  
You watch as Flowey’s pot floats out of the room, the flower protesting the entire way, and into the hall. Once in the hall the pot is placed gently on the table outside your door.  
“Room’s much nicer now without that weed.” Sans sighs, closing the door as Flowey continues to yell at him angrily. “So… Have you done your math homework yet?”  
You shake your head and climb onto the bed where you’d left the worksheet. Sans sits on the opposite side of the bed and takes the sheet from you when you offer it.  
“Oh boy, division.” Sans chuckles. “Alright kiddo, this is like multiplication just in reverse.”  
You hold your pencil, ready to do the problems, as Sans explains them to you. But you just can’t focus. All you can think about is Flowey saying how Sans’ hates you now. Sans’ own words from earlier repeat in your head as he tries to explain the problem to you.  
“Hey, are you listening?” Sans asks you, startling you.  
You look up at him and he looks at you confused.  
“What’s with that face kid?” He chuckles and gestures to the worksheet. “This isn’t something to get upset about. It’s just math. You’re not even help math with it’s ex’s yet.”  
You nod and apologize, for what felt like the hundredth time that day.  
“What’re you sorry for?” Sans seems genuinely confused. “It’s fine, we’ll work through the problem together, okay?”  
You shake your head and put your pencil down.  
You ask Sans if he really did hate you now? Did he really hate you? All because you’re friends with Flowey?  
“I never said I hate you.” The white center of Sans’ eyes narrows. “I’m angry that you’ve been lying to me and protecting a murderous weed. But I don’t hate you.”  
Something clicked in your head and suddenly you feel angry. You ask how he can be mad at you for trusting Flowey when you trusted everyone.  
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sans’ eyes go black and there was a warning edge to his voice.  
The anger that had flared to life inside you begins to bubble as you say that literally everyone in the Underground had tried to kill you, more times than they could remember, and you still trusted them. How was Flowey any different?  
“Woah,” Sans snaps, cutting you off. “Don’t you dare compare any of us to that weed.”  
You snap back that it was the truth. That you had been killed literally dozens of times by all of them but you didn’t hold it against them.  
“We’re different.” Sans snaps. “If you remember, we actually all came to help you in the end!”  
You stand up on your bed and snap back that the fact that everyone came to help you in SOME endings didn’t change the fact that you still had to live through being killed over and over by all of them. You angrily say that it was no different except Flowey didn’t try to ignore the fact that he had caused you nightmares, unlike everyone else who’d had never once brought up the fact that they’d tried to kill you. At least Flowey admitted to what he’d done, everything that he could remember, and you could talk to him about it. You feel your eyes burn as Sans stands up, his left eye flashing angrily.  
“Fine, you want to talk about all the pasts?” Sans asks furiously. “Fine, let’s talk about how you murdered every single person in the underground for absolutely no reason! Oh, wait, that’s right, you were mad or curious or what’s that excuse you pulled yesterday?” His words bite you to the core. “That’s right, it wasn’t ACTUALLY you, it was that little imaginary friend you just came up with. Sure, get rid of your guilt on an imaginary voice that only you could hear. How convenient!”  
You felt as though you’d been floored, as though he’d slammed you to the ground like he would in the Judgement Hall.  
Angry and wanting to say something, anything, that would hurt him like he’d just hurt you yell at him that Gaster believes you. You snap that Gaster knows about Chara and he’s trying to help you. Gaster knows that you’re not lying, just like Flowey does. You furiously tell him that Gaster actually wants to fix things instead of just telling you to ignore it or try to forget it.  
Sans’ eyes have gone completely black at your words and you feel as though the room has suddenly gotten colder.  
“You told me that you hadn’t seen Gaster in this run.” Sans’ voice is strangely calm. “What was that? Another lie?”  
Fuming you say that you don’t have to answer his questions anymore. After all, you point out, Sans had made it clear that he didn’t trust you anymore. Why should you waste your time telling him anything when you didn’t know if he’d believe you or not?  
“I’m warning you, brat.” Sans spits out the words and you’re suddenly blue. “Tell me the truth. Have you seen Gaster in this run?”  
Fear, cold and sharp, stabs through you. The look in his eyes, the cold anger there, you hadn’t seen that since… The last Genocide run.  
You’re paralyzed in fear, sweat begins to dot your forehead and run down the back of your neck. Your mouth feels like it’s full of cotton and you can’t form any words. All you can think about is the last time. The last fight you’d had against Sans. How he had crushed you, broken you, killed you so many times.  
So easily.  
Something seems to click in Sans’ head and suddenly the magic holding you in place releases you. You fall onto your bed, your entire body shaking violently, as your vision swims in front of you.  
“Kid?” Sans voice sounded weird as you struggled to focus your vision.  
In your mind you were in the Judgement Hall, the Sans that had killed you then warning you not to take another step. But your body and a part of you was still in your room, aware that tears were threatening to stream down your face.  
You apologize, you don’t know if you actually apologized or just said it in your head. Begging, you ask Sans not to hurt you. You begin to apologize profusely as the room around you fades in and out between your bedroom and the Judgement Hall.  
“It’s alright, you’re okay kiddo.” Sans’ voice is distant but you try to focus on it. “I’m not going to hurt you. It’s okay. I’m here.”  
Something wraps itself around you and at first you struggle but what’s holding you doesn’t let up. You didn’t have the DETERMINATION anymore to fight. That’s what had made your last run a pure pacifist run. You’d just rather be killed over and over again than keep fighting. You slump against what’s holding you and just close your eyes.  
“That’s it kiddo, just breath.” Someone sooths you, a hand petting your head. “It’s okay. You’re alright. I’m not going to let anyone hurt you. I promise baby bones.”  
Your shaking stops and your head hurts, but you muster up the courage to open your eyes. If you open them and you’re in the Judgement Hall you’d just let Sans kill you quickly and reset the world. If you’re in your bedroom then you’ll be so relieved.  
Thankfully, mercifully, you open your eyes and the first thing you see is dark navy blue fabric. You push back from what’s holding you and Sans’ worried face comes into your vision. You freeze, on reflex, before a relieved breath escapes you. You lunge back and hug him tightly, apologizing frantically into his hoodie.  
“It’s alright kid,” Sans holds you tightly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m so sorry Frisk.”  
You shake your head and the tears begin to fall. You apologize for yelling at him. You tell him you’re so sorry for getting angry and you won’t let it happen again. You apologize over and over again.  
“It’s okay, it’s okay kiddo.” Sans tries to calm you down. “It happens. I was mad too.” He chuckles and the sound surprises you. “We both lost our heads. It’s okay.”  
You nod and try to take a deep breath. You tell him you were so scared, that all you could think about was the last genocide run. A sad laugh comes out and you tell him you couldn’t do it, that you just couldn’t fight anymore. Not even if your life depended on it. You didn’t have that Determination anymore, the Determination to fight back. The Determination to even just defend yourself.  
“That’s not good kiddo…” Sans actually sounds worried which surprises you. “You shouldn’t… You should want to protect yourself if someone threatens you.”  
You shrug and tell him you don’t want to deal with any more guilt that you already are. You can feel the sins of your past crawling on your back and what you had done to everyone you now love haunts you. You don’t know who to turn to, you just want to guilt to go away.  
“Kid…” Sans sighs before his arms around you crushes you to him. “I’m here for you. All of us are here for you. You’re not alone. How many times do we have to tell you?” He almost sounded like he wanted to laugh. “Am I just not speaking the same language here kid? Is there a break up in our connection here?” His grip around you loosens and he puts a boney finger right in one of your ears. “Can you hear me now? This is how humans connect directly right?”  
You giggle and push his finger out of your ear.  
“No? Alright so there is an issue with communication.” Sans chuckles and begins to poke your stomach. “I think there’s an outlet here right? Is that were humans connect to communicate?”  
You laugh and push his hands away.  
“Good to see you smiling.” Sans chuckles. “Been a little bonely in the house with you being so quiet lately.”  
You giggle and hug your dunkle tightly. You thank him for still caring about you even though you’d lied to him.  
“Just…” Sans sighs. “Don’t lie to me anymore, alright?” The seriousness in his tone made you look up at him. “I will be keeping a close eye on you, closer than usual, so no funny business.” He lets go of you and points his bony thumb at the door. “And that weed had better start behaving himself. I’ll leave him alone if he stops pushing his limits. Alright?”  
You nod, hopeful that things will finally go back to normal.  
“Alright, just one more thing before we finish your homework.” Sans sighs adjusting himself to sit beside you on the bed with his legs bent over the edge, his slippered feet resting on the ground. “Have you… Honestly… Seen Gaster in this run?”  
You feel your mouth go dry and you move to sit beside him, your legs dangling over the bed but your feet don’t reach the ground. You nod silently.  
“Okay.” Sans takes a shuddering breath. “Where and when?”  
You tell him that Gaster came to your room once, but he was all goopy and falling apart. Then you went back to the Underground and Gaster found you again. He brought you to the void where he told you he was trapped and you’re trying to help him get out.  
“Y-You actually went into the void?” Sans looks at you, his bones seeming to whiten. “And got out?”  
You nod and tell him that Gaster helped you in and out.  
“What does he want with you?” Sans asks. “What did he ask you to do?”  
You begin to explain that he wants to fix the fray in the timelines before you stop. You ask how Sans knew Gaster wanted you to do something?  
“Because I know him better than anyone.” Sans tells you. “Now tell me what he wants you to do.”  
You tell him that Gaster asked you to find Chara and then he was going to find a way to contain Chara’s determination and repair the timelines so that there’s only one again.  
“Who’s Chara?” Sans asks. “You said that name before.”  
You hesitate before telling him that Chara is the name of the voice in your head. You tell Sans that he should ask Toriel or Asgore about Chara because, at some point in the unaffected past, they were their child…  
Sans goes silent for a while, a long while, before he finally speaks.  
“Are you planning to see Gaster again?” Sans asks. “Any time soon?”  
You tell him that you and Flowey had been talking about going and asking him how you’re supposed to find Chara.  
“First,” Sans holds a finger up to stop you. “I’m not sure I like the idea of you actively looking for something that was able to make you complete several total genocides of the whole underground. So just put that brilliant idea out of your head. Second…” He takes a deep breath and sighs. “When you go to see Gaster… I’m coming with you.”  
You stare at the skeleton, both surprised and confused. You ask him why?  
“Because I’ve got a bone to pick with him.” Sans tells you, reaching over and grabbing your worksheet. “So, unless you were planning on sneaking out tonight, let it go. You still need to finish this.”


	12. Chapter 12

That night the nightmares came, but they were just memories. You woke with a start after being run through by Asgore’s trident and wondered from your room.  
“Geez, bad dream?” Flowey’s dry voice met you in the hall.  
The fower had been set on the hall table by Sans before you’d done your homework. After you’d finished your homework Sans had stayed with you, telling you the fluffy bunny bed time story he always told Papyrus. It’d been enough to lull you to sleep whether you’d wanted to or not.  
Now, the flower was waiting in the hall with an annoyed and tired expression.  
You nod and ask how he’d known?  
“Heard you talking in your sleep and crying.” Flowey shrugged his grin becoming wicked. “So, care to share?”  
You think about it and decide that you’d just leave Sans alone, enough had already happened and you didn’t want to bother anyone else. Beside… Sans and Flowey were the only ones who knew about the Resets.  
You pick up Flowey’s pot and go to the living room where you turn the television on. You ask him if he wants anything to drink and he just glares at you.  
“Yeah, fine, whatever.” He grumbles.  
You get cups of water for both of you and gently pour the water onto the soil around him until the flower tells you to stop.  
“So, spill dummy.” Flowey snaps as you stare absentmindedly at the television, some kind of late night anime on the screen. Mostly blonde guys shouting at each other as they glowed.  
You tell him about being killed by everyone over and over again. Your Determination had begun to waiver and Chara had laughed hysterically each time you’d died. The pain had been so real, so unbearable. You’d been so drown in the pain that you hadn’t even registered killing your friends only that their particular type of pain would stop. This had been different from a true Genocide run though. In the true genocides that you’d gone through most of the monsters had evacuated as you’d gone on your bloody crusade. But everyone had been there and it had been so real.  
What’d hurt the most was feeling your Determination draining from you, being chipped away at each time you died. Until… Until you’d lost your Determination to fight anymore. It’d resulted in just an onslaught of death and pain for you. The strike that had woken you had been Asgore’s trident piercing your torso through at 3 different points. It’d hurt, so much, the pain had been so real.  
Cold, defeated, tears slowly trickle down your face and drip onto the soil in Flowey’s pot.  
“Well…” Flowey seems kinda lost, like he didn’t know what to do. “That… Sucks…”  
You nod and your breathing catches in your throat. You say that you don’t know what to do. You just want the nightmares to stop.  
“Well, I don’t know what you should do!” Flowey snaps. “Try to just stop caring, that’s what I do and it works pretty great until some stupid idiot like you or that trashbag get in my way.”  
You hiccup and shake your head, you tried to stop caring, once, but it’d only made everything worse.  
“Really?” Flowey seemed interested now. “When? You’ve never told me about this!” He grins widely. “I want to know! Tell me now!”  
You sigh and wipe the tears from your face. You tell him about the hole that lead to the Underground and said that you hadn’t known that it’d take you there. You’d told him you’d stopped caring, about everything. You just wants everything to stop and didn’t want to deal with the world anymore.  
So, you’d jumped.  
The tears come back. Then, you’d met everyone and gone through so many runs that you couldn’t remember them all now.  
“Wait, you’d tried to die?” Flowey looks at you like you’re the dumbest person in the world. “BEFORE you knew how to SAVE and RESET?”  
You nod and try to get your tears under control again.  
Flowey’s pot lifts from your hand and you look up to see a soft blue glow covering the flower.  
“PUT ME DOWN!” Flowey snaps at Sans as the skeleton enters the living room from the hall.  
“Keep your voice down weed.” Sans replies, his voice sharp, as Flowey’s pot floats to the coffee table. “I’ve had enough of your annoying voice today so it would be a vine idea of to shut your fly trap.”  
You hop off the couch and wait as Flowey’s pot is put on the coffee table, the flower grudgingly going quiet.  
“Come on kiddo.” Sans sighs, the Television clicking off, and holding a hand out to you. “I’ll tuck you back in.”  
You shake your head and tell him that you want to stay out here. You tell him that you don’t want to go back to bed and that you can’t deal with any more nightmares tonight.  
“Kid…” Sans sighs before shrugging. “Alright,” He grins at you and takes the remote. “I was thinking about catching up on my late night shows anyway.”  
You smile, relieved, and curl back up on the couch next to the skeleton. Sans throws the blanket on the back of the couch over you and then flicks on the television. You wonder what show he’s going to watch, thinking that maybe it was a scary movie or something, before he settles on the discovery channel.  
“Michio Kaku is an American theoretical physicist, futurist, and popularizer of science.” Says a voice on the television as a picture of a smiling man is up. “One of his most recent contributions to the science community is the”  
You and Flowey both have deadpan expressions as you look between each other, the television, and Sans. For his part the skeleton actually seemed interested, the white centers of his eyes glowing brightly as they were glued to the screen.  
Several photos of notes come onto the screen as you feel your eyes begin to get heavy and all you can make out are strange symbols and squiggles on the page. The scientist comes back on the screen as Sans chuckles, pulling out his cellphone.  
“The equation isn’t formulating as smoothly as hoped, obviously.” The scientist explains. “But my assistants and I are working on it as we speak. I firmly believe that if we can solve this problem then the stabilization of-”  
“Hello, my name is Sans.” Sans’ voice as he spoke into his cellphone surprised you. “There’s a problem on line 77 of the equation for the stabilization fissure.”  
You’re lulled to sleep by Sans’ voice as he explains to whoever it is he’s talking to on the phone what they did wrong. A part of you wonders if he’s pranking whoever he’s calling or if he’s serious?  
You don’t dream again, at least nothing that you remember. Vaguely you think that someone tries to wake you but they stop after a bit and you contently roll over back to sleep.  
A phone rings and you jolt awake. Someone groans beside you and you look around to see Sans still on the couch next to you and Flowey on the table. You yawn as Sans grumpily answers his cellphone.  
The sun is shining brightly outside and you wonder what time it is? Is it almost time for school?  
“I’m kinda tied up today.” Sans yawns into the phone and you can hear an excited voice on the other line. “Yeah, I can come by tomorrow… Yeah I’m not coming at seven in the morning, that’s just a bad time.” Sans glances at you and rolls his eyes at the caller, making you giggle. “Well, I drop my kiddo off at school around eight fifteen, so I guess I can be there by ten-ish? Gotta see if my bro can drive me.” he rolls his eyes again. “Yeah, yeah, I heard you. Just because I don’t have ears doesn’t mean I can’t hear you… Oh yeah, I’m a skeleton. Welp, see ya tomorrow.” With that Sans hung up the phone and grins at you. “Looks like the good doctor got my voicemail.”  
You tilt your head to the side and then ask what that was all about.  
“Oh, I’ve been following this one scientist’s theories for a few weeks now.” Sans explains, getting up and stretching. “He makes little mistakes though and they throw off the entire equation. So I like to find them and then call them in. This is the first time they’ve called back though. Said they wanna meet me.”  
You’re excited for your friend and then ask what time it is? You don’t hear anyone else in the house which was strange because normally it would be bustling in the morning.  
Sans glances at his phone and shrugs. “Noon, don’t worry. Paps will be home in a few hours. I think he went with Tori and Asgore to deal with some ambassador stuff.”  
You pause and look at Flowey who glares at you.  
“Toriel tried to wake you up for school.” The flower says. “I even offered to wake you up with a friendliness pellet.”  
“We all thought it’d be better if you stayed home and actually got some sleep today.” Sans explains. “Alright kiddo, I’m hungry, so get dressed and I’ll take you to Grillby’s with me.”  
You grin widely and run back to your room. Dressing quickly you rush back to the living room and ask Flowey how his day has been.  
“Oh, just greeeeeat.” Flowey says sarcastically. “I’ve been serenaded by the lovely sounds of you and trashbag SNORING ALL FREAKING DAY!”  
You apologize and ask him if he needs anything?  
“Yeah, water my pot and then take me outside for a sunbath.” Flowy snaps.  
You quickly take him to the kitchen sink where you let the water run gently and dampen his soil.  
“Ready to go kiddo?” Sans asks from the kitchen door.  
You nod and ask if you can bring Flowey too?  
“Yeah, I don’t think so.” Sans says.  
You ask why and tell him that Flowey needs sunlight.  
“You can take him in the backyard when we get home.” Sans yawns. “Just leaf him in the kitchen window for now.”  
You promise Flowey that you’ll take him outside as soon as you get home and put him on the kitchen windowsill, standing on tiptoes you could just barely put him safely there pushing with your fingertips. Sans offers you his hand and you take it. He leads you out of the house and you both begin to walk towards Grillby’s.  
“Getting colder.” Sans says, zipping up both your hoodies.  
You nod, the wind’s cold and cuts through you. All of the leaves on the trees have gone brown and over half of them have fallen.  
“Almost there.” Sans says with a wide grin as he leads you through the neighborhood.  
You look around with interest as monsters mill about their days. There were still houses being built, a few store fronts had popped up, and more buildings under way. Despite all of the construction there were still lots of trees left up and what looked like a park with playground underway.  
“You know, sometimes I can hardly believe all of this is real.” Sans says as you wonder through the growing town. “I’ve never known a timeline to go so smoothly. Most of the humans are even pretty decent to us.” He grins down at you. “We monsters owe you a skele-ton kid. This is the best ending I’ve ever had.”  
You grin and tell him you’re happy that this was a good ending.  
At Grillby’s you each get burgers and you munch on the juicy sandwich and a tall glass of milk. The restaurant was emptying out of the lunch time rush and you’re surprised to see human construction workers mingled in with the monsters.  
“Pretty busy Grill?” Sans asks as you two sit at the bar, eating your lunches.  
“….” Grillby cracks in response and Sans grins.  
“Good to hear.” Your dunkle chuckles. “Well, hope business stays on fire.”  
You giggle at his joke.  
After some time of eating you thank Sans for taking you out to lunch, also for letting you stay up with him last night.  
“Eh, what’re dunkles for?” Sans chuckles as Grillby goes to clear off a recently empty table. “So… Wanna tell me what happened last night?”  
You shrug and tell him it was just another nightmare, just more memories coming to the surface.  
“Yeah, I figured.” Sans takes a long drink from the ketchup bottle. “Anything else you want to share?”  
You think and shake your head. You tell him that you can’t think of anything.  
“I was getting a drink when I heard you and that weed in the living room.” Sans explains. “Heard you two talking about somethings. Like…” He gives you a sidelong look. “Why you jumped into the Underground in the first place.”  
You stop and think before remembering. Why you’d jumped to the Underground… You’d been so sad… Your parents were gone… You were miserable in the Orphanage… You couldn’t do anything…  
You tell Sans that you don’t want to talk about it.  
“That’s fine.” Sans shrugs, finishing the bottle of ketchup before looking at your empty plate. “All done?”  
You nod and take his hand again.  
Sans leads you out of Grillby’s, you both wave goodbye to the fire monster, and begin to head back home.  
“So, I guess when we get home you should take that weed outside and that science project of yours isn’t going to do itself kiddo.” Sans says as you begin to walk home. “Any ideas on what you want to do?”  
You tell him that Ms. Pepper had suggested you do something on the sky but you didn’t know exactly what you’re gonna do.  
“Is that what those questions on that paper were about?” Sans asks.  
You nod and tell him that it’d been Ms. Pepper’s idea for you to write questions because science is about answering questions.  
“Heh, well she ain’t wrong.” Sans chuckles. “… I have an idea. When we get home I’ll help you figure out your project. Sound good?”  
You nod excitedly.  
Once home you eagerly gather Flowey from the windowsill and go into the back yard, Sans close behind you.  
Your dunkle watches the flower closely as you take him around in his pot. Asgore’s flowers and shrubs had mostly gone brown with the cold of fall but some were still pretty.  
Flowey, for his part, just seemed happy to be outside and he swayed a little in the sunlight.  
“So,” Flowey whispers to you when you’re both on the opposite side of the garden from Sans. “When are we going to go see Gaster and find the Save points?”  
You tell him that you didn’t know but that Sans had said he wanted to come with you to see Gaster.  
“WHAT?!” Flowey snaps at you loudly. “WHY DID YOU TELL THAT BONEHEAD?!”  
You say because he’s your friend and could help. He’s the only other person who knows about the RESETS and knew about Gaster.  
“Well, duh, of course he’d know about Gaster.” Flowey gives you an incredulous look. “Seriously? You don’t know anything about that numb skull.” The flower’s expression suddenly freezes.  
“Who you calling a numb skull?” Sans asks, his grin wide, suddenly behind you and staring daggers at the flower in your hands.  
“WILL YOU GO AWAY?!” Flowey snaps immediately. “I’m not doing anything wrong so go away!”  
“Yeah, no can do weed.” Sans replies and pat’s your head. “See, this is my kiddo here, and I still don’t trust you. You’re just lucky that they do or you’d’ve met a weed Wacker by now.”  
You frown up at Sans and tell him that what he said wasn’t very nice.  
“Hey, calling people boneheads isn’t very nice either.” Sans offers in his defense and you find yourself giving both him and the flower dry looks. “So, what was it that weedy here didn’t want you telling me?”  
You calmly say that you were talking about when to go see Gaster again. Sans’s eyes go fully black, his smile icy, before he chuckles.  
“Yeah, well…” He says, his eyes refocusing on Flowey. “Don’t you have a science project to do kid?”  
You nod and ask Flowey if he’s had enough time outside?  
“Yeah, I guess.” Flowey huffs annoyed. “You can take me back inside now.”  
You spend the afternoon working out your science fair project. Sans helps you figure out that you’re going to focus on clouds and helps you use the computer to find the information you need to get started.  
“NYEH HEH!” You hear everyone arriving before you see them.  
Giggling excitedly, you get up and jump over the poster board you’d been working on with Sans to the front door.  
“BROTHER! HUMAN!” Papyrus is the first to enter. “WE’VE RETURNED WITH MOST EXCITING NEWS!”  
“Welcome back.” Sans grins as you hug the tall skeleton while Toriel and Asgore enter. “Have a good day?”  
“A MOST EXCELLENT DAY!” Papyrus says excitedly. “I AM AN OFFICIALLY RECCOGNIZED DIPLOMAT OF ALL MONSTER KIND THANKS TO KING ASGORE!”  
You grin and congratulate Papyrus before hugging Toriel.  
You goat mom’s face was less enthusiastic though as she hugged you tightly.  
“Frisk, dear, I think that we should talk…” Toriel tells you, glancing at Asgore. “Your father and I have some things to speak with you about.”  
A knot in your stomach forms and you look back at Flowey and Sans.  
You ask if you’re in trouble and Toriel assures you that you’re not as she puts you on the floor.  
“No, just some things that I think we should all talk about.” Toriel says.  
You nod and pick up Flowey’s pot.  
“I think that maybe it should be just the three of us my child.” Toriel’s expression was concerned.  
Now it was the skeleton brothers’ turns to look concerned as they exchanged glances.  
Reluctantly, you put Flowey in your room and go to the kitchen where Toriel and Asgore are both sitting at the table.  
“Howdy.” Agore greeted you with a wide smile, but there was concern in his eyes. “How was your day?”  
You tell him it was good. Sans took you to Grillby’s and then you worked on your science project after taking Flowey outside.  
“That’s great.” Asgore seems relieved and chuckles, smiling at Toriel now. “Well, that’s one thing taken care of. We were told that you’re struggling with your science project. You know that if you need any help there partner all you gotta do is ask us and we’ll help.”  
You nod and, feeling a little relieved, ask if that was it? Excitedly you tell them about how you’re doing a project on clouds and how Sans is going to help you make an artificial cloud.  
“That sounds spectacular!” Asgore genuinely seems impressed. “You know, for a while Sans was a royal scientist. He’s quite the mind, if he can stay awake long enough.”  
You sit up a bit, you’d never known that Sans was a royal scientist.  
“Asgore…” Toriel clears her throat. “Frisk, my child, there is another matter that we should really discuss…”  
You ask what.  
“The school is concerned that perhaps you’re not as... Happy as you should be.” Toriel tries to explain calmly. “And, truthfully, I’m concerned too. Apparently you don’t talk or play with the other children at school? You don’t engage in class, or talk to your teacher Ms. Pepper when you need help, and you’ve asked some concerning questions…”  
You shrug and say that the other kids and class are boring. Ms. Pepper told you to write questions so how come you’re in trouble for those? And you do talk to Ms. Pepper. You tell her good morning and good bye every day and she even tried to help you with your science project.  
“Frisk…” Toriel sighs. “The school had a service worker come speak with Asgore and I… About your past and some concerns that they have.”  
The room goes silent and you look between your adoptive parents. A worker? A service worker… Your mind works slowly but you don’t have to think hard to understand. A social worker…  
You gulp, your throat suddenly dry. You knew how this went. You’d gone through it before. You knew exactly what was going to happen.  
“You’re not in trouble or anything.” Asgore offers quickly as your eyes begin to burn with tears, your head falling and your hair covering your eyes. “But, we think that some of the worker’s suggestions are alright.”  
You ask what suggestions, your voice quiet.  
“They think that, since you don’t really talk to anyone, that you could see a councilor.” Toriel says, taking your hand. “And she can check on you every once in a while to make sure you’re doing okay.”  
You nod silently.  
“So…” Toriel seems momentarily lost for words. “Frisk, is there anything you would like to tell us? Asgore and I? Is there anything at all?”  
You silently shake your head.  
“You know that you can though, don’t you?” Toriel asks, worry in her voice. “You can tell us, Papyrus, Sans, Undyne, Alphys, anyone anything that’s bothering you. You understand that don’t you?”  
You nod and tell her you know.  
A strange calm descends upon you and you are able to smile brightly up at Toriel. You tell her that you’re sorry you’ve worried everyone and that you’ll do better. You get out of your seat and tell them both that you want to work on your project more if that’s alright?  
“Of course.” Toriel’s face is sad as she looks at you, like how it had been when you had first asked to leave the ruins. “I’ll make supper soon.”  
“Do you want any help?” Asgore offers, rising from his seat.  
You smile and shake your head, you tell them that you’re a big kid and can handle the project now that you know what you’re doing.  
You run to your room then, glimpsing Sans just outside the kitchen as you do.  
“So what was all THAT about?” Flowey asks as you enter your room.  
You close the door and wait a minute, listening carefully, before telling him.  
“Soooo you just have to talk to some stupid councilor and some stupid woman?” Flowey sticks his tongue out. “Sounds easy, why’re you acting like a twit?”  
You try to explain that this is just the beginning, eventually the humans would take you away. You’d be put back in an orphanage and never see your friends again. Tears begin to burn down your face as you tell Flowey that they’ll move you to a different town or city far away so that they can’t find you and that you would never be able to find them again.  
Flowey goes silent for a time, seeming to consider your situation, before he grins widely.  
“Then RESET.” Flowey tells you. “Just RESET, do another run. Don’t break the barrier.” He smiles sweetly. “You can just stay in the Underground without all of this human crap.”  
You pull you knees to your chin, sitting the floor in front of Flowey, and ask if that would really fix everything?  
“Of course it would.” Flowey assures you. “You’ll just RESET the world. You know now what to do for every ending, and you even know what happens after the endings.” He smiles and sways on his stem. “Come on Frisk? Why not?”  
You can feel yourself drawn to the idea. Just RESET, go back to before all of this. But…  
“HUMAN?” Papyrus’ voice startles you as several loud knocks sound through the door. “ARE YOU ALRIGHT? LADY TORIEL HAS SAID THAT SUPPER IS READY AND TO COME DOWN NOW.”  
You try to wipe the tears from your face as Papyrus opens the door.  
“NYEH?” Papyrus immediately sees your tear stained cheeks. “ARE YOU HURT? WHY ARE YOU CRYING?”  
You shake your head and tell him it’s nothing to worry about but before you can finish you’re crushed to the tall skeleton’s ribs.  
“I KNOW THAT YOU ARE UPSET HUMAN.” Papyrus tells you. “I MAY SEEM NAÏVE BUT I KNOW THAT YOU ARE UPSET. SOMETHING HAS BEEN BOTHERING YOU HASN’T IT? I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL NOT STAND TO SEE YOU SO UPSET. SO TELL ME HUMAN, WHAT’S MADE YOU CRY?”  
You stare up at him, a little tight chested from how tightly he was hugging you, and you begin to feel better. No, you can’t RESET again. You’d just have to find another way.  
You hug Pappy back and thank him. You tell him that you’re feeling better now that you’ve gotten a famous Papyrus hug.  
“NYEH?” Papyrus looks at you, seeming surprised, then he grins excitedly. “NYEH HEH HEH! BUT OF COURSE HUMAN! HUGS FROM I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, CAN FIX ANYTHING!”  
You giggle and agree as Papyrus puts you down.  
“COME FLOWEY!” Papyrus scoops up the flower’s pot and carries it with you as you leave the room. “ALTHOUGH IT IS NOT MY SPAGHETTI, LADY TORIEL’S COOKING IS QUITE GOOD!”  
Supper was a surprisingly quiet affair, the tension in the room apparent, but you do your best to ignore it. Once you finish supper Toriel gives you the homework that you missed today and you set yourself up in the living room working on it.  
After struggling through your homework Toriel tucks you into bed and bids you to sleep well, she’ll see you in the morning. Toriel even makes sure that Flowey is comfortable where he was on your bedside table.  
After a time of laying awake you ask Flowey if he’s asleep.  
“What do you think?” Comes the flower’s grumpy response.  
You tell him that you’ve decided not to RESET, there has to be another way.  
“Yeah, I figured.” Flowey grumbles as voices rise downstairs.  
Both of you go quiet, listening. A part of you hopes it’s just the television, but Toriel wouldn’t let it go up that loud…  
You hear Papyrus’ concerned voice, Sans’ sounds angry, and Asgore’s sounds reasonable. When you hear Toriel’s you feel yourself freeze up, she sounds mad. Really mad.  
You wonder what could be causing everyone to sound so upset as you grab Flowey’s pot and you creep to your bedroom door. Carefully, you push it open and sneak down the hall to listen.  
“I don’t appreciate you keeping secrets about my child from me Sans!” Toriel’s angry voice is the first to greet you. “The humans are concerned about them and I am too! So just tell me, if you know what’s wrong with them I need to know.”  
“If I could I would.” Sans snaps back. “But I can’t tell you what you want to hear. The kid’s just dealing with some stuff right now. I’ve promised you that I’ll keep an eye socket on them and I have been!”  
Your heart drops, they were fighting because of you.  
“I just don’t understand it,” Toriel shakes her head. “They trust you and Papyrus more than Asgore and I, they surely have told you what’s wrong?”  
“Trust me, I’ve told you what I can.” Sans says. “They’re just not talkative, they weren’t even in the Underground.”  
“Then perhaps speaking to Councilor Brax will be good for them.” Asgore’s voice pipes in reasonably. “The principle gave the councilor high praise and said that he’s very good with children.”  
“And I’m telling you that if it’s the same pink polo jerk off that they tried to make the kid talk to last time it’s only going to make them miserable.” Sans retorts. “You didn’t hear them screaming the last time that they were sent to that jerk’s office. They’re not going to open up to him.”  
“Then what do you suggest we do?” Toriel snaps back. “The humans are still learning to trust us and they’re still not sure that they can leave Frisk with us.”  
You turn back to your room and put Flowey back on the bedside table. It’s stupid, this is all so stupid, you tell Flowey.  
“Well, duh,” Flowey seems annoyed. “So whatcha gonna do partner?”  
You think and decide. If they try to take you away from your family you’ll run before they can. Until then you’ll give everyone the answers that they want to hear. You tell Flowey that you’re going to go see Gaster as soon as you can and see if he can help you with this and with finding Chara.  
“If you bring me with you I can help.” Flowey grins in the dark. “You know I can handle any little human who gets in our way.”  
You think about it and agree. You weren’t going to be taken away this time, not when you’d finally managed a happy ending.


	13. Chapter 13

You’d intended to see Gaster sometime that weekend but that didn’t happen. You couldn’t do anything without someone watching you, hovering over you and asking if you were alright.   
You kept a happy smile plastered to your face at all times and didn’t complain about anything to anyone. Anyone except Flowey who you had started keeping with you at all times. At first the school had said you couldn’t bring Flowey but you’d managed to convince them to let you bring the small, potted, flower who stayed quiet throughout all of your classes.   
Ken, counselor Brax, for his part gloated about how much you seem to have improved after just three sessions with him. He mentioned your more positive behavior and how much more you were smiling at school. It’d been Flowey’s idea, but Ken took credit for suggesting to the principle allowing you to keep the flower with you like how some people would keep service animals.   
After a long meeting between the Social Service Worker, Ken, the Principle, Asgore, and Toriel it was agreed that as long as Flowey behaved he could continue to come to school with Frisk.  
Bringing a talking flower to school also had other advantages. Your classmates were curious about Flowey and because of that often flocked to him during free time so you were often seen with a group of kids and the adults were relieved. Not that you really talked to the other kids, Flowey did most of the talking, but they seemed to be backing off a bit.  
Sans hadn’t been as happy about Flowey staying with you during school though and had been watching you and the flower much closer than usual. When he was home, that is.   
The college that had called him had offered him a position in a research department which, to everyone’s surprise, he’d accepted. So now, most days, Papyrus and Sans would drop you off at school in the taller skeleton’s red convertible and pick you up outside.  
Papyrus at least didn’t mind the flower and seemed to enjoy playing games like Jenga and board games with him when you were busy doing homework or working on your science project. He was also eagerly planning for Thanksgiving, arranging for a large party while Asgore and Toriel prepared to have to go to a meeting of nations.   
You didn’t quite understand what a meeting of nations was but Toriel explained it as many leaders from all the different countries were coming together to discuss global politics. Whatever that meant. All you knew is that it meant they’d be going away, again, and leaving you alone, as they were so often doing lately.  
You knew it wasn’t fair to be mad at them though and had heard that there were countries who were very anti-monsters. But that didn’t make you feel any better when they missed back to school night with you where your class had made a collage to show. You hadn’t told Papyrus and Sans about it, not that you didn’t want them to come but Sans was always so sleepy after work and Papyrus had plans that evening to have a big supper with Undyne and Alphys over.  
The next big event was the winter concert that your school threw where all the classes had to learn songs and put on a play. The concert was just before winter break and you thought you’d have plenty of time to tell Asgore and Toriel about it, maybe all your friends could come?  
Thoughts of Chara and Gaster were soon far from your mind and, with the exception of the nightmares that have become so normal to you that at this point when you wake up you just stay awake and talk to Flowey.   
“When do I get to kill you?” Flowey frowns at you from the bedside table as you sit with your knees under your chin on the bed. It’d been Mettaton this time who’d killed you. “What the frick Frisk? Everyone here kills you except me!”  
You shrug and, with a little twisted laugh, tell him that you’ll tell him all the gory details when he does kill you in your dreams.  
“You better.” Flowey snaps. “So, what? It’s midnight, that’s four hours of sleep?”  
You nod. You’d been getting less and less sleep lately, the nightmares waking you up.  
“Oh well, it’s Friday at least.” Flowey shrugs two leaves, the little green foliage having sprouted over the past few weeks from Asgore’s attentive care of the flower. “I suppose you’re going to sleep all weekend again?”  
It’s your turn to shrug, probably Sunday you tell him. Tomorrow Mettaton is visiting though, having finished his first world tour on the surface, and you’ve missed him.  
“You’re going to crash.” Flowey tells you dryly. “And your smile is creepy lately, you look like a psycho clown.”   
That makes you laugh again. The combination of stress and the lack of sleep often left little energy for you to think ahead. Usually no one noticed but there was one person in the house who was all too aware of your current state.   
So, it really shouldn’t have surprised you when someone knocked on the door.  
You ask who’s there.  
“Shouldn’t.” Sans’ voice comes through the door.  
You ask “Shouldn’t” who?  
“Shouldn’t you be asleep?” Sans asks, opening the door and coming into the room.  
Your smile waivers before you fix it back into place. You tell him that you had a bad dream and apologize for waking him up.  
“It’s fine,” Sans yawns, sitting beside you on the bed. “wanna talk about it?”  
You tell him about the dream, it’d become easier to talk about your nightmares lately. Whether that was because of their frequency or the lack of sleep you weren’t entirely sure.  
“Sounds rough kid.” Sans fixes you with a concerned look. “You okay?”  
You shrug and share a grin with Flowey. You giggle and tell Sans about how you and Flowey are both waiting for him to kill you in your dreams but it hasn’t happened yet.  
“Yeah…” Sans’ concerned expression deepens. “Are you feeling alright? You’re not acting like yourself.”   
Your smile wavers, Sans had been saying this a lot lately and each time you didn’t quite know what to tell him. You didn’t feel like yourself. You’re trying so hard to look happy all the time, you’re afraid that you’re going to be taken away from your family, you’re worried about school, you barely got any sleep most nights, and sometimes you get so worried you think you’re going to throw up.   
“Earth to Frisk.” Sans pokes your shoulder, you’d gotten lost in thought. “Ya still with me kid?”  
You nod and lean against him, your eyes feeling heavy. You mumble that you’re so tired and ask how much longer you have to keep pretending?  
“Pretending?” Sans asks, his arm coming around your shoulders. “What’re you talking about bucko?”  
You tell him that your face hurts from smiling all the time and you’re so tired. It’s hard to be pretend to be so happy all the time and you hadn’t slept well in weeks. You’re just so tired, all you need is a few days where you can just let the charade come down and you’d be fine.   
“Hey, you don’t have to pretend around me.” Sans tells you gently as he rubs your arm. “Its okay if you want to let it out, I won’t judge.” He chuckles softly. “Heh, I have my moments too.”   
You nod and yawn widely. Whenever you were with your friends you always felt so safe, so secure, and that’s always when you felt most tired. Your eyes drift closed and you can feel sleep swallowing you as Sans’ voice echoes in your ears.  
“How much sleep have they really been getting?” Sans asks, you sleepily wonder who he’s talking to.  
“Couple hours a night.” You’re surprised to hear Flowey yawn. “Four or five usually.”  
“Alright…” Sans sighs and you feel his hand gently squeeze your shoulder. “I wish you’d just come to me… Guess I’ll just have to start coming to you, huh?”  
The last thing you sleepily think is how wonderful it is that Sans and Flowey can now talk to each other.   
You’re drifting through a velvety blackness. Nothing around you. Just a warm, gentle, darkness. It’s so peaceful and comforting.  
Something, someone, drifts into your view and you smile widely at Gaster as his mask like face smiles at you.   
“Stay DETERMINED Frisk.” He tells you as you draw closer to him. “Find Chara, bring them to me. Don’t lose your DETERMINATION.”  
You nod and tell him you won’t.  
Gaster smiles at you and one of his bodiless hands gently covers your eyes.  
You wake up to the sounds of rain hitting your window. You’re tucked firmly in bed, Sans is laying over the covers next to you with his eyes peacefully closed. You look at Flowey and see that even the flower is asleep.   
You quietly try to get out of the blankets and manage to free one of your arms. Sans tucked you in really tightly last night. Grabbing your phone you look at the time. Five in the morning, exactly.  
You’ve got another two hours before you had to wake up and get ready for school. You readjust and snuggle deeper into the covers, enjoying their warmth. A skeleton arm stretches over you.  
“S’okay kid…” Sans mumbles in his sleep. “I gotcha… Jus’uh bad dream…”  
You smile tiredly, your eyes already drifting closed again.   
The next time you open your eyes it’s because someone’s very loud and very flamboyant voice can be heard from the living room all the way in your own. Sans is gone and Flowey has an extremely annoyed expression as he glares at the door.  
You ask what’s going on.  
“Tin can arrived early.” Flowey grumbles darkly. “Why the hell did doctor scales build him that body? He wasn’t annoying enough as a ghost?”  
You’re confused and listen carefully.  
Papyrus’ excited voice lofts up.  
An airy laugh follows.  
A wide, truly happy, smile spreads across your face and you rush out of bed. Still in your pajamas you run out into the living room and straight towards the tall robot standing in the middle of the room, a full camera crew behind them.   
“And here’s our sweet little darling!” Mettaton says enthusiastically, picking you up and hugging you tightly. “Ooh! How is everything in sweet heart land?”   
You grin and tell Mettaton how excited you are that they’re here and ask who their friends are.  
“These lovely gentle beauties are my camera crew.” Mettaton tells you with a wink. “We’re going to do an undercover documentary into the life of a normal human today.”  
You’re impressed and tell Mettaton that whoever they’re going to document sure is lucky to get to spend all day with them.  
“I know.” Mettaton sighs. “Tens of, no, HUNDREDS of thousands of desperate viewers would just die for this chance.” He bends down and boops your nose. “But I saved this special day all for you.” Mettaton straightens up and claps his hands together. “Now, wardrobe and make-up get to work on sweetie pie and then we’ll get started. Papyrus, darling, I hope you’re not busy today, I need your help with security detail. Sans, be a chap and make sure that the paparazzi doesn’t find us here before the documentary is finished. Has some given Toriel and Asgore their lines yet for when we start recording? Toriel darling you must”  
You’re instantly swept away by two monsters who you didn’t know. Soon, all of the cloths you had were picked through and lain in a mess around your room. Your hair was being brushed then curled then straightened then moussed up and gelled down.   
The morning was a massive frenzy getting ready, and that was before the limo pulled up to the house. Dressed in “Autumn Chic” according to Mettaton, which was really just a big turtleneck sweater and a pair of ironed blue jeans with brand new MTT high top sneakers that they’d brought you, and your head feeling like you were wearing a hard hat from all the product in your hair you were ready for school.   
“What the heck?!” Flowey was furious, a bow had been tied around his pot and moss had been put at his base for a more ‘earthy’ look. “Take your trash off me you stupid tin can!”  
“Darling don’t you want to look good for our viewers?” Mettaton asks as you all ride in his limo to school. “We start rolling as soon as we get out of the car, so just sit tight darlings.” Mettaton smiles dazzlingly at each of you. “Now, Pappy dear I need you to be in charge of security for us for the day. Flowey, make sure that Frisk has everything they need. Frisk, darling just be your adorable self and follow my lead. Sansy-“  
“Has work and will go there after dropping the kid off.” Sans cuts Mettaton off. “Sorry, you’ll have to do your little show without me.”  
“Little?!” Mettaton snaps. “I’ll have you know that this is the first episode of a new series I’m airing.”   
“Yeah, okay.” Sans waves him off. “Just don’t cause too much troubled for the kid at school alright?”  
“I would never!” Mettaton seems utterly offended by Sans. “The whole point of this documentary is to get an unadulterated look into the everyday lives of humans so that monster kind can understand them. Naturally I’d done several series like this involving monsters in the underground, those are supposed to start rerunning tonight so that the humans can understand us.”   
“OH I REMEMBER THOSE!” Papyrus says excitedly as the school comes into view outside the windows. “THEY WERE QUITE GOOD METTATON!”  
“Of course they were darling.” Mettaton says, grinning widely as the limo pulled to a stop outside the school. “Well, come along now beauties!”  
The day was anything but normal. The moment that the car door opens a long red carpet had rolled out and the camera crew followed you and Mettaton all the way up to the school while Mettaton introduces the documentary episode. Some of the children in the crowd that gathered before the school recognized Mettaton from television and rapid whispers begin to fill the crowd.  
At first, the principle stopped Mettaton from entering the school but after a conversation in the principal’s office there didn’t seem to be a problem.   
Ms. Pepper seemed at a loss, her students unable to pay attention to the lesson as Mettaton reported for the documentary.   
“And this, gentle beauties, is a fine example of the standard youth teacher.” Mettaton says, indicating Ms. Pepper.  
“Now, listen here.” Ms. Pepper snaps, using the long pointer she usually indicated things on the board with to point at Mettaton.  
“Oh,” Mettaton smiles widely. “Thank you darling. What a most excellent idea.” The robot takes the pointer from her and proceeds with their script. “Please note the very simple clothing, oversized glasses, and wrinkles around her face. You see, human children are easily distracted by bright, stylish, things and they can be very stressful to manage.” As Mettaton tears into Ms. Pepper they indicate the various aspects.   
Finally, you get out of your seat and go up to Mettaton. You had meant to suggest that they stop pointing out Ms. Pepper’s greying hair as your teacher’s face was becoming various shades of red. But, the moment Mettaton bent to your level to speak your classmates were up and out of their chairs and swarming the celebrity.   
The morning was lost in a blur of Mettaton and lunch was no better. There was chaos and pandemonium in the cafeteria as students tried to talk to the celebrity. Throughout all of this Mettaton continued to report on everything as though this were a normal day. Papyrus was a good distraction from Mettaton, able to amuse many of the other kids as they waited to meet the robot.   
Recess was just plain insane, the teachers seeming to have given up on controlling the kids for the hour, as the whole school seemed to swarm them. Mettaton seemed perfectly at ease though, even as the paparazzi pulled up to the school.  
The school security officers had a hard enough time keeping the paparazzi back but Mettaton assured them it was fine, all in a normal day for the celebrity.  
You’re already feeling exhausted, your eyes burning as the edges of your vision blur slightly, by the time that the end of recess bell rings.   
“WHAT’S NEXT HUMAN?” Papyrus asks, as you go inside holding his hand.  
You yawn and tell him it’s usually social studies but with the science fair coming up it was just science and then PE.  
“The humans encourage a well rounded education.” Mettaton explains to the camera as you all go inside. “The later half of the day is designated to scientific experimentation and Physical Exertion.”  
You think about correcting Mettaton but decide not to, you’re too tired to do this. Flowey, for his part, had very wisely opted to stay in your classroom over lunch and recess. You deflate a little in your seat, giving the glaring flower a tired smile.  
“You look like crap.” Flowey says as your classmates continue to crowd Mettaton on the other side of the room.  
Ms. Pepper, for her very disheveled part, seems just as deflated as you and barely even attempts to get the class on course before throwing her hands up and calling it study hour.  
The PE teacher wasn’t nearly as deterred by Mettaton though. The man came right on time to pick up the class and snapped them into order right quick. With his short cropped hair, neatly trimmed mustache, blue shorts and white t-shirt that showed his muscles Mr. Jordan did not let much get by him.   
Nothing could deter Mettaton though. Somehow, and you’re not entirely sure how, Mr. Jordan ended up doing an on screen interview for the camera crew while the class played dodge ball in the background.   
You focus on just dodging, every move you made took too much energy. But it was Friday. Flowey was watching form the side lines. You were playing with Mettaton and Papyrus. Being with your friends fills you with DETERMINATION.   
Less than an hour, you tell yourself as you expertly dodge ball after ball. Just a little longer. Then you could sleep on the car ride home and could snuggle up with Alphys and watch anime like you’d been the past few Fridays. Just a little longer and you could sit down and rest.  
You didn’t see it and couldn’t quite remember getting his. The world just spun around you and warbled in your vision. You stopped moving just long enough to steady yourself when something hit you right on the head.   
“HUMAN!” Papyrus’ voice startles you and you shake yourself.  
You’re lying on the gym floor and Mr. Jordan is kneeling beside you.  
“Alright Dreemur, you know the drill.” Mr. Jordan said, helping you stand up before holding up three fingers. “How many fingers am I holding up?”  
Three, you tell him.  
“What’s today?” He asks.  
Thankfully it’s Friday, you say.  
“Good.” Mr. Jordan chuckles and points at Flowey’s pot. “Go get your flower and to the nurse’s office with you.”  
You sigh and nod.   
“Are you aright darling?” Mettaton asks concerned, Papyrus anxiously nearby.  
You nod and tell them that you just have to go to the nurse’s office.   
“I SHALL TAKE YOU TO THE NURSE!” Papyrus is instantly at your side. “DO YOU NEED ME TO CARRY YOU?! ARE YOU INJURED?!”  
You giggle and say no. Papyrus carries Flowey’s pot in one hand and holds yours in the other. Your head feels fuzzy as you walk to the nurse’s office.   
Every part of your body feels heavy.   
Even just smiling was hard now.  
You’re so tired…  
“NURSE!” Papyrus asks as you all enter the office. “FRISK WAS STRUCK DOWN BY A DODGE BALL! CAN YOU PLEASE HEAL THEM?!”   
The completely stunned look on the nurses face makes you giggle before she gets up. Sitting on one of the beds in the back of the office where you’d lain when you’d fallen down the stairs the nurse examines you.   
“No lumps or bumps.” The nurse says. “Though, your eyes are a little red. Do you know if anyone has had pink eye?”  
You shake your head and tell her that you’re just tired.   
“Alright, well I wouldn’t say you’re hurt.” The nurse says, Papyrus sighing relieved. “But go ahead and lay down until last bell. I’ll have a note sent to the front office that you’re here when your guardians come to pick you up…” She looks at Papyrus. “Unless, are you one of their guardians?”  
“YES, I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS, THE GREATEST UNCLE!” Papyrus puffs his chest out proudly. “MY VERY CLOSE FRIEND METTATON’S CAR WILL BE PICKING US UP AFTER SCHOOL! WE’VE BEEN MAKING A DOCUMENTARY TODAY!”  
“Ah…” The nurse seems perplexed but lets it go. “Well, Frisk just lay down until last bell and then you can go. Alright?”  
You nod and ask if Papyrus and Flowey can stay with you?  
“As long as they’re both quiet.” The nurse smiles at you before leaving.  
Papyrus sits with your head resting against his long legs and, without even meaning to, you’re asleep.   
You rouse a little when you’re picked up, but manage just to roll into the bony arms carrying you and snuggle back.  
“THEY ARE VERY TIRED!” You hear someone explain. “THE NURSE SAID THAT THEY ARE FINE THOUGH!”  
“Poor dear.” A metallic voice says. “Such a sweet little star.”  
“Just let’em sleep.” A tired voice says. “I’m sure they’d love some of your spaghetti when they wake up Paps…”  
“NYEH HEH HEH!” Whoever’s carrying you sounds so happy. “OF COURSE THEY WILL! I SHALL SET TO MAKING PLENTY FOR SUPPER TONIGHT FOR EVERYONE!”  
“And you can bet I’ll be helping you doll.” The metallic voice adds.  
You feel so comfy and fall back into the velvety darkness. The heaviness that had plagued you throughout the day melted away and your thoughts became clearer.   
“Stay DETERMINED.” A familiar voice reminds you. “Don’t give up.”  
For the first time in what felt like years your dreams are welcome.  
Baking with Toriel…  
Playing tag with Undyne…  
Watching Anime with Alphys…  
Trying Papyrus’ newest recipes…  
Sharing tea with Asgore…  
Singing Karaoke with Mettaton…  
Playing jokes on people with Sans…  
Saying bad jokes with Flowey and giggling late at night…  
Listening to music and falling into the universe with Napsiblook….  
Older memories begin to surface, things that you’d thought you’d forgotten.  
Your mom’s gaunt face smiling at you, her glazed over eyes focused on you for a change.  
Your dad’s thin, almost skeletal, arms hugging you tightly and promising you that the social service worker won’t take you away from them.  
Your soul aches at these memories as you recall the fire.  
Your parents had fought to keep you…  
That day… At school…  
There’d been a fire at your house, the cramped trailer where you’d lived in the drearier part of town…  
You couldn’t even remember the name of the town, you just knew it was near Ebbott. You’d only been six when they’d died…  
When people had called them junkies… Addicts… Criminals… When kids had teased you at your old school…  
Something warm pushes those memories away and a strange feeling comes over you. It’s firm, strong, safe.   
“I understand now…” The broken words reach you, the voice strangely familiar. “I’m sorry for all you’ve suffered Frisk…”   
You turn about in the darkness and see Gaster watching from his platform. You ask if you’re in the void?  
“In a sense.” Gaster says. “You’re with one of my sons right now and… even in my present state they are still my sons. I am still connected to them as all parents are to their children.” A sad smile spreads over his face. “Stay DETERMINED Frisk, your DETERMINATION is why you are still alive. That is why I still have hope.”   
You nod as the darkness begins to swallow Gaster.  
The heaviness, not crushing as it had been, is still there. You groan and wrap your arms around the warm thing next to you.  
“Come on kiddo.” Sans’ voice chuckles as someone gently shakes you awake. “Supper’s ready and everyone’s here. You don’t wanna miss all this good time do you?”  
It takes so much strength to open your eyes, much more than it should, but still it was easier than it had been earlier. You’re in bed, Sans sitting at the head of your bed and your head in his lap. Looking around you don’t see Flowey and ask where he is?  
“Asgore’s helping him get the moss out of his pot.” Sans chuckles, helping you sit up. “Got his stem all in a twist about it. Paps told me you had a busy day?”  
You nod sleepily and rub your eyes.   
“As much as I hate to admit it the weed’s right…” Sans says, a hand on your back helping you stay sitting up. “You don’t look good kid.”  
You admit that you don’t feel good either and tell him that you feel really heavy and it’s hard to wake up when you’re not having nightmares. Suddenly you remember and quickly tell Sans that you saw Gaster.  
“What?” The lights in Sans’ eyes narrow before he chuckles. “Yeah, you need more sleep kiddo.”  
You tell him that you’re sure of it, Gaster was there and said that he could reach you because you were near him and Papyrus.   
“I don’t think that’s how the void works.” Sans says, getting off your bed. “Come on, supper’s ready.”  
You slide off your bed and stumble a little.  
“Woah there kid…” Sans steadies you, his smile falling. “Nice and easy there, I’ll help ya.”   
You nod and right yourself. The concern on sans’ bony face is apparent but he smiles encouragingly as you both go into the hall.   
“We’ll eat and then watch the new season of Kitty Crush that Alphys brought over.” Sans says walking you into the hall. “And tomorrow I’ve booked us both solid. Sleeping in, watching TV and napping on the couch, then I was thinking a movie night filled with an early bedtime.”   
You grin at that, the idea of sleeping all day sounding wonderful.  
“Hey there twerp!” Undyne was the first to greet you as you both came into the living room. “How’re you doin?”  
You grin at Undyne and tell her that you’re really happy she’s here and ask where Alphys is?  
“In the kitchen with Flowey.” Undyne says before locking you in a tight headlock and giving you a noogie. “Why didn’t you invite me to school with ya? Metal-butt’s been doing nothing but talking about how great of a day at school you all had.”  
You struggle to explain that it’d just happened but the head noogies made you dizzy.  
“Hey, lay off fish stick.” Sans says good naturedly. “Kiddo isn’t feeling too hot right now.”  
“Huh?” Undyne looks down at you, still trapped in a head lock, confusedly. “Getting sick or something?”  
You paste a mischievous grin on your face and tell her that you’ve been staying up late and watching leaked clips of the Kitty Crush movie that’s supposed to release near Christmas.  
“What?!” Undyne finally releases you and rushes to the kitchen. “Alphys! Did you know about the Kitty Crush MOVIE?!”  
“Smooth.” Sans chuckles as you both follow after her. “Come on kiddo, just supper then everyone will get comfy for some anime.”  
You nod.  
Getting to spend the evening with your friends fills you with DETERMINATION.  
Supper was livelier than it had been in a while. With Mettaton visiting there was renewed energy as everyone tried can catch up with each other. There were no less than five different spaghettis to choose from. Once it was out of the bag that Mettaton was spending the weekend there Undyne and Alphis wanted to spend the night too.  
With some pleading Toriel said that everyone could sleep over. As super was being cleaned up the living room was rearranged with the couch and Toriel’s reading chair pushed back. As many pillows and blankets that could be found were loaded into the open floor space to make a massive, comfy, area for everyone to watch anime. Popcorn was popped, tea was poured, and the lights dimmed as everyone got situated.   
Looking around, you can’t help but smile tiredly. Alphys was cuddled up blushingly with Undyne. Asgore and Toriel were even sitting next to each other on the couch. Mettaton was snuggling up closely to Papyrus. Flowey sat in your lap as you sat next to Sans.   
You were barely able to stay awake through the first episode and by the end of the opening credits of the second you were leading on Sans tiredly. Not long after that you drifted to sleep, a soft chuckle making you feel at ease as Flowey’s pot was taken from you and something warm wrapped around you.


	14. Chapter 14

You slept deeply and woke to rain hitting the living room window. The first thing you notice is that you’re between Papyrus and Sans. The next is that all of your friends were all sprawled out on the pillows and blankets around you.   
Sitting up, you look around and don’t see Asgore or Toriel. Mettaton was asleep on Papyrus’ other side, his head resting against the skeleton’s ribcage. Flowey isn’t anywhere to be seen either and you frown, wondering where he could’ve been taken too.  
You crawl out of the blankets and over the pillows towards the kitchen where you get a glass of water. Though your body feels achy the utter exhaustion that had been plaguing you had eased a great deal. Maybe you could do something fun with your friends today? And you could go up to see Gaster tomorrow with Sans and Flowey?   
Feeling strong enough to face the day fills you with DETERMINATION.   
You decide that you’re going to try your best today. Carefully creeping past your still sleeping friends you hurry to the bathroom and start the shower. Bathing had become such a chore lately but today you were going to do your best. For your friends, they deserved the best.  
You scrub yourself thoroughly, becoming a small mountain of bubbles before rising it off.  
“You okay kiddo?” A knock from the door comes.  
You turn the water off and wrap a big towel, all of the towels are massive because of how big Asgore and Papyrus are, around your shoulders. Peeking out the door in the oversized towel you find Sans, rubbing the sleep from one of his eye sockets.   
You tell him that you feel good, better now that you’d showered.  
“Oh, good.” Sans yawns. “Need help drying off?”   
You nod and open the door the rest of the way. Wrapped up completely from your shoulders down in the oversized towel, you sit on the bath matt in front of the bathtub as Sans takes a smaller hand towel and dries your head.  
“How’d you sleep?” Sans asks as he jostles your hair in the towel.  
You tell him that you slept good and eagerly add that you didn’t have any nightmares either.  
“That’s great.” Sans chuckles. “How much of last night do you remember?”  
You tell him that you remember getting through the first episode but not much after that.  
“Ah…” Sans pauses then chuckles. “Well, the others had been thinking about going on a hike today. But, given the thunder and lightning, and the fact that Mettaton doesn’t want to become a lightning rod, outside I don’t think that’ll be happening.”   
You agree then ask Sans if you could go to the Underground tomorrow with him to see Gaster?   
Sans goes still for a moment, before taking the towel off your head and hanging it up.  
“You need to rest this weekend and work on your science presentation.” Sans says firmly. “Just because you’re feeling better doesn’t mean you can go off saving all monster kind, again.”   
You frown but choose not to argue. After all… You still had no idea how to find Chara so it wasn’t as though you had them to bring to Gaster right now anyway…   
You ask Sans when you would go see Gaster?  
“Dunno, gotta get you back in top shape and school comes first.” Sans shrugs, leading you out of the bathroom and to your bedroom door. “Also, it’d be rude to ditch Mettaton since he did make time in his schedule just to visit. So this week is out. I also just started that job at the research lab. I’d imagine it’ll be a while.” He ruffles your damp hair. “Go get dressed. Papyrus woke me up so I’d imagine that breakfast will be soon.”  
You grin and hurry into your bedroom.   
Opening your wardrobe you find it cram packed with new cloths that you hadn’t seen before. Looking at the tags inside the cloths you notice that they’re all MTT brand. At first you smile because this was so awesome. All these new cloths? Just for you?   
As you pull the cloths out one at a time to look at them all your mind begins to wonder to darker places. Mettaton was so kind to you, everyone was. Would they still be if they remembered?  
The thought makes you freeze as you hold out a bright pink and purple hoodie with an applique Mettaton on the back of it with lots of shimmery fabric.  
Would Mettaton have still done this for you if they could remember the four times you’d killed them, destroying the beautiful body that Alphys had built them, with your bare hands?  
“Of course they wouldn’t.”   
You gasp and look around, wondering who was there. But the room was empty, Sans was waiting outside.  
Grabbing the first shirt your hand finds you dress quickly in it and jeans. You calm yourself down as you grab the hair comb from your bedside table drawer.   
Sans is right, you try to convince yourself, you’re just tired. You hadn’t been sleeping well.   
Going to the tall mirror you brush your hair neatly.   
You’re just tired.  
You’re just tired.  
It becomes your mantra as you brush your hair.  
“You’re just tired.”   
Your head whips around towards the voice that had whispered in your ear. But no one was there.   
“So very tired.”   
You spin around the other way.  
“You should rest.”   
You begin to tremble, the voice eerily familiar.  
“Let me handle things for a while.”  
Something touches your shoulder and you yelp, bolting for the door. You run right past Sans who said something but you didn’t catch it in your panic.  
“Darling did you find-“ Mettaton was walking down the hall towards you.  
You collide with them, falling back on your bottom.  
“Oh my, are you alright?” Mettaton asks, kneeling in front of you.   
You nod, a presence behind you making you tense.   
“You sure kid?” Sans’ voice fills you with relief. “You were running like your room was on fire.”  
You nod and, thinking quickly, tell Mettaton that you’re so excited about all the MTT stuff you found. You quickly get up and show him the shirt you’re wearing.  
“Oh, but of course darling!” Mettaton is instantly flattered, picking you up and spinning you around with them. “I should have you know that you are the first human to EVER get any of the Mettaton brand clothing line! None of the cloths you now have will be rolling out until next month.” He grins dazzlingly and puts you down. “Come, let’s show everyone just how FABULOUS you are darling!”   
Grinning you go to the kitchen where a massive breakfast is being prepared. You help Alphys squeeze oranges as pancakes, eggs, bacon, and all manner of other breakfast foods are prepared. It was an energetic, talkative, happy breakfast.  
You have a lot of fun feeding Flowey what he tells you he wants. Unfortunately, because of the weather, no one wants to do anything and after breakfast Undyne and Alphis head home. For your part you want to do something, it’s the first time in weeks that you feel good and you don’t want to waste all this time in bed all day.   
But… Asgore took Flowey with him to the garden shed… Toriel and Papyrus were having a cooking lesson… And you still had a project to work on…   
Although, thankfully, Sans said you would be done with it before winter break. Which meant, unlike everyone else who would be working on their projects the entire three weeks of break that was coming up you’d get to hang out with your friends and have fun.  
“Pretty cool lookin’ kid.” Sans grins as you both admire the big display that you’d made together.   
It’d taken you such a long time to make, it felt like, but finally it was done. Two tri-folding posters had been taped together to make one big display. On the far left panel you’d listed what a cloud was and how they formed. The next panel in you listed they types of clouds and how they were different. The following panel to the right described the different types of storms and weather that clouds brought. The second to last panel explained how clouds travelled. The last second explained how to create a cloud. That was the last thing that you had to do, was make a cloud.  
Sans was really going to have to help you with that and said that he’d have it ready in time for the fair.  
Despite getting sleep the night before you tired easily and by early afternoon you could feel the fatigue setting in.  
“Frisk, darling!” Mettaton’s voice wafts into your bed room as Sans leads you to your bed. “Come! We’re going out for a bit!”   
You grin and turn back towards the hall as Sans catches your shoulder.  
“You can go out after you rest up a bit kid.” Sans says as Mettaton appears in the doorway. “You look bone tired. Get in bed.”   
“Well, well, well,” Mettaton tisks at Sans with a smirk. “Looks like you’ve become quite the mother hen Sansy.”  
“Yeah, whatever tin can.” Sans brushes Mettaton off, using blue to pick you up and put you in bed. “Don’t you and Papyrus have something you can do together for a while?”  
“Papy is getting ready for our date tonight and Toriel said I can take Frisk out for lunch.” Mettaton says, walking past Sans and holding out a hand to help you out of the bed. “You might like to make all of the decisions for our little star but the King and Queen do have the final say, wouldn’t you agree?”  
“Can’t you see how tired the kid is?” Sans glares at Mettaton as he takes your hand.   
“Oh, it’s just lunch.” Mettaton waves him off. “Get your coat darling.”  
You grab the blue hoodie that had been Sans’ and Mettaton’s eyes narrow on you.  
“Oh, don’t you want to wear one of the new coats I brought you?” Mettaton asks.   
You shake your head and tell Mettaton that this is your favorite hoodie, Sans gave it to you.   
“Well, I suppose it works… But only because of how cute you are.” Mettaton tilts his head to the side before taking your hand. “As long as you’re comfortable my little star! Now, I know this wonderful micro café, those are all the rage right now you know. Pappy is letting me borrow his car so this will be just our adventure.”  
You nod and wave at Sans as Mettaton leads you out the front door, the rain seeming to stop momentarily. The roof of the convertible was already up and the car ready to go. You sat upfront and buckled yourself in.   
“Just, give me a call if something happens alright?” Sans had fixed Mettaton with a dry expression. “And don’t keep the kid out too long.”  
“Yes, yes, of course.” Mettaton rolls his eyes. “You know, Sansy, it is sweet and all how much you dote on our little star but other people can take care of them too.”  
With that Mettaton whipped out of the driveway and then down the road. You’d wondered who’d taught Papyrus how to drive months ago but now you knew. Mettaton’s driving made Papyrus’ look cautious and left you dizzy as he bobbed and weaved down the highway. Catchy music blared from the speakers in the car and you danced along with the music.  
“And we’re here!” Mettaton announces, coming to a stop in a parking spot.  
You’re surprisingly not nauseous from the drive and follow Mettaton into a new looking shopping center. A colorful segment painted in blues and greens with silver accents was your destination, fancy looking tables and chairs set up in an area walled off by glass sides and ceiling shine brightly. It looked so fancy, even fancier than the MTT resort Underground.  
“I’m in the process of buying land to build the Aboveground’s first MTT resort.” Mettaton explains as you both enter the restaurant, then to the host who was dressed in a nice button up turquoise shirt and white dress pants. “Mettaton, deary, and I’d like one of the seats in the atrium.”  
“Absolutely.” The host’s eyes flash excitedly, recognizing the Aboveground’s newest rising star. “Right this way.”  
You’re lead to a table right up against the glass wall of the glass room and make yourself comfy across from Mettaton. Menus are handed to you each and the host tells you that your serve will be with you both very shortly.  
“Thanks doll.” Mettaton winks at the host and his face goes bright red. “Now, Frisk, darling. You and I haven’t had a chance at all lately to catch up!” His fingers press to his forehead dramatically. “The Aboveground is so much larger than the Underground, the world tour took so much more time that I’d thought it would. So” Reaching across the table he scoops up your hands in his. “do tell me everything! How is school? I know I was just there with you yesterday but your classmates seemed a tab star struck by muah, which isn’t surprising, but I know you must have made many friends by now?”  
You shrug and tell him that you mostly hang out with Flowey at school.  
“But, the other children must surely see how absolutely delightful you are?” Mettaton presses. “And you’re such a bright little star, surely you’re teachers are just as smitten by you as I am.”   
You tell him that you don’t know, you keep to yourself at school.  
“Ah…” Mettaton pauses, smiling dazzlingly at the waitress who stumbles over her words nervously before taking their orders.  
Mettaton orders a fresh fruit tart and you order a frozen yogurt parfait, the waitress said it was like a Sunday. Bubbly water was brought out to both of you before Mettaton continues.  
“Frisk, darling,” Mettaton’s face becomes somber. “You know how I absolutely hate causing any drama but I must tell you that everyone is quite concerned about you.” He sighs, leaning back in his seat and holding your gaze assessingly. “And, frankly darling, I can understand why.”  
You ask why?  
“Well, not to pry, but Pappy tells me that you’ll lock yourself up in your room most evenings and he’s even found you crying alone. Queen Toriel mentioned, off handedly of course, that you won’t talk to anyone about what’s bothering you no matter how much they ask. King Asgore has said that you’re sleeping your weekends away and not going outside to play with other children. I don’t have to wonder about Sans, that skeleton hovers over you more than the Queen does. For such a sack of lazy bones that’s enough for me to know that you’re worrying him.”  
You shrug and say that you haven’t been acting any different and Mettaton clears his throat.  
“Don’t lie to me Frisk, deary.” Mettaton tells you sternly. “You know that we monsters are much more attuned to the soul than humans are and your’s is troubled. So, spill darling, what’s diminishing your shine?”  
You hesitate.   
How do you tell Mettaton that you’re always having nightmares about the RESETS? How do you tell him that you’re looking for Chara who, by the way, was a demonic entity that had encouraged and made you slaughter every monster in existence? Oh, and that’s before you talk about the fact that no one at school will talk to you ever since Jeremiah had bullied you? Or about Gaster who was trapped in the void and, fun fact, was Papyrus’ and Sans’ dad which had been news to you too?   
You sigh and tell him that you don’t really know how to explain what’s going on.  
“Well, how about you just tell me what’s going on and I’ll piece it together?” Mettaton suggests. “You know from my quiz shows that I’m quite good at figuring things out, and Papy hasn’t managed to make a puzzle yet that I can’t solve. So, get talking deary.”  
You think and remember all of the various sets you had wondered onto while in the Underground. They were fun memories, looking back, but at the time…  
You ask Mettaton if he remembers the debut of his current body? The special episode that he’d run before you’d gone on to meet Asgore?  
“Of course darling!” Mettaton’s face lights up at the memory. “We’d broken the Underground’s viewer record. It’d been a fabulous first show with you, to be sure, I think that the lights could have been better though and we certainly will have to work on our chorography for another episode.”  
You giggle as both of your meals arrive. Mettaton’s fresh fruit platter was a bunch of prettily cut pieces of fruit fanned out over a large dish with whipped cream and yours came in a tall Sunday glass with a big swirl of ice cream on top of layers of fruit, strawberry sauce, and more ice cream.   
You tell him that you remember it too. What you remember most though wasn’t the dancing or the viewer numbers rising. You remember Mettaton’s stiletto cracking down on your head. Mettaton goes silent, his face seeming to slacken slightly, but you continue. You remember having to dodge every attack thrown at you as the crowds of monsters all around watched and cheered each time Mettaton attached. You remember Mettaton talking about how he was going to take your soul and go Aboveground to be a new star up here.   
Your eyes fix on the Sunday as you tell him that you don’t want him, or anyone for that matter, to feel bad about attacking you in the Underground. But… That didn’t change the fact that everyone seemed to cherish the memories they had of meeting you. They all looked back fondly on those times whereas, for you, those were the times that you had been running and fighting for your life. You recall how the doctors had looked at your x-rays and wondered out loud how you had still been standing.   
You admit that fighting Mettaton had nearly broken you. He’s so strong, even with Alphys’ help, and you’d almost lost your DETERMINATION. If it hadn’t been for Alphys’ help you would have just given up. You manage to look up at Mettaton and found it hard to hold his shocked eyes that were steadily filling with guilt. You tell him quickly that it wasn’t just him but... Everyone.  
Every monster who you’d crossed had, at some point, tried to either hurt or kill you. Many of them had wanted to do both. All for your soul.   
Your gaze falls back to your lap as you continue.  
You tell Mettaton that you’re trying not to let everyone know because you love them and don’t want them to feel guilty. Their guilt would only crush you more than you were already being crushed by everything that had happened. But… How do you keep memories like those, like struggling to survive and being hunted by the people you now love so much, from affecting you?  
“Oh, my little star…” Mettaton’s hand extends under the table and takes yours. “I’m so sorry, I had… I hadn’t considered all that…”   
You shrug and tell him it doesn’t matter now, it’s all in the past. You manage to smile brightly, forcing the same smile you’d donned for weeks now into place, and tell him you’re fine and that you’re sorry if you’d upset him.  
“No dear, you are most certainly not fine.” Mettaton snaps at you as the rain begins to pour outside. “And… I hope you can forgive me… I am sorry. If I had known how delightful of a star you are I would have never, ever, hurt you.”   
You meet his eyes and see an earnestness that you’d never before seen in Mettaton’s gaze. Your smile becomes a little more honest and you apologize for all you’d done to him, thinking of everything you had done that he couldn’t remember.  
“Don’t even worry about it.” Mettaton assures you before taking a deep breath and pulling his hand back. “Now, tuck in before your ice cream melts.”  
Conversation turns more light hearted after you both tuck into your lunches. Mettaton tells you all about his planned MTT Ski resort that’ll be built near the reservation. It’d give many monsters jobs, which was needed, and he also wanted to start the MTT brand Burger franchise above ground too. The next few months would be crazy busy for the star, he already had over two dozen interviews with radio shows, television personalities, and news networks scheduled.  
“But don’t fret darling, I’m going to make visiting you and my dear Papy a top priority.” Mettaton assures you. “What kind of star would I be if I neglected my two favorite people in the entire Over and Underground?”  
You grin happily and tell him that your school was preparing for it’s winter concert in a month, right before winter break. You ask if he’d be able to come?  
“It’s a date.” Mettaton says eagerly with a wink. “I promise, I’ll be there.”   
The promise of your friend, who was so busy, coming to the winter concert fills you with DETERMINATION.  
After finishing your lunch Mettaton calls Papyrus to see how everything at home is while he drives. The rain had stopped and a beautiful day broke through the clouds so the top was down and the wind whipping through your hair. In it’s way it was liberating.  
“No darling, what you showed me earlier is fine.” Mettaton chuckles as Papyrus panics about what to wear on their date that night. “Don’t worry so much about it I’ll love whatever you wear, even if you wore nothing at all.” His tone held a suggestion in it but you don’t think Papyrus got it after Mettaton face palms himself. “Yes, of course, well look I’m going to take Frisk to get some things so we’ll be home a bit later than Sansy wants. Be a dear and tell him for me? Thank you.”  
Mettaton hangs up the phone and chuckles.  
“Papy is such a treasure.” Mettaton says, putting the phone away. “How in the wide, wide, world had the Underground not discovered him? He’s absolutely delightful.”  
You shrug and agree, Papyrus was wonderful.  
“So, I’d like your thoughts on something.” Mettaton asks. “Do you think Papy’s cooking has gotten much better?”  
Definitely, you tell Mettaton that his spaghetti was the best thing in the world.  
“Excellent.” Mettaton seems relieved. “Well, one of the endeavors I’m working on right now is the MTT Channel, getting it aired Aboveground, and I was thinking that Papy could run the cooking show as a co-host with me. I know that we’re both busy but it would be nice and we could spend more time together on the clock.”  
You grin and tell Mettaton that you think it’s a great idea, you add that you think Papyrus would love to spend more time with him.  
“Wonderful.” Mettaton grins, clicking out a pair of fancy sunglasses and putting them on. “Well, I think you deserve another little treat. You’ve been to a toy store before?”  
You think back, actually… Because your parents hadn’t had a lot of money you couldn’t think of a time you’d gone to a toy store. Asgore and Toriel had offered to get you any toys you wanted but… You didn’t want to ask for anything from them since they were doing so much for you already. Papyrus had his action figures but you really didn’t want to damage any of those.  
You shake your head.  
“What?!” Mettaton seems horrified. “Oh, this needs fixed. Don’t worry darling,” Mettaton reaches over and squeezes your shoulder tightly as he continues to drive, his eyes locked on the road. “Worry not my little star!”  
You hang on tightly as Mettaton floors it and you’re suddenly speeding even fast down the highway than you were before.   
Mettaton takes you to a massive store, like a warehouse, full of toys of all kinds. Wondering around Mettaton tells you to pick what you want, but there’s too many to choose from. Also, though you didn’t tell him, most of the toys just didn’t interest you.   
But… There was one thing you’d wanted ever since the original had been lost in the fire.  
Walking past a section of stuffed animals you dig through it until you find one that you like. A plushy rabbit, yellow with a big blue bow. You hold it up to Mettaton and ask if you can have this?  
“Are you sure?” Mettaton seems surprised and gestures to all of the other toys, many with flashing lights and fancy gadgets. “Nothing else interests you?”  
You shake your head and tell him that all you want is this, it looked like one that you used to have.  
“Ah, of course darling.” Mettaton smiles at you and leads you to the register.  
Going to the toy stop took a little longer and by the time you and Mettaton arrived home the sun had almost fully set. But, it is late fall so the sun set sooner than it had in the summer you reason as you hold your new toy inside the hoodie with you. It’d gotten cold on the drive home.  
“That was a long lunch tin can.” Sans says from the couch as you and Mettaton come in, giving you both a dry stare. Flowey’s sitting on the coffee table glaring at Mettaton.  
“Are they back?” You hear Toriel call from the kitchen.  
“Safe and sound darling!” Mettaton calls before meeting Sans’ dry gaze with one of his own. “As for you, I called Papy and asked him to tell you we’d be a little late.” Mettaton waves off Sans. “Frisk, I’m going to borrow your room to get ready for my date with Papyrus. Alright?”  
You nod as Toriel comes into the living room. You go up to your goat mom and hug her.  
“Did you have fun my child?” Toriel asks.  
You nod and show her the toy that Mettaton had gotten you. You tell her about the tangy parfait with lots of fruit and strawberries that you ate.  
“Sounds nice.” Toriel smiles, seeming happy. “Supper will be in a little while. Asgore is repotting Flowey right now in the garden shed if you’d like to see them.”   
Deciding that Flowey might not be happy with you intruding on his repotting, and thinking that maybe he’d like the time with Asgore since that is his father, you sit beside Sans on the couch.   
“Glad you had a good time kiddo.” Sans tells you. “How’re you feeling?”  
Like you could use a nap with your favorite dunkle, you tell him, making Sans chuckle.  
“Come here kid.” Sans holds one of his arms up in invitation. “Give me a hug.”   
You move close and hug him tightly before a bony knuckle comes down and gives you a noogie.  
“Stop worrying me kid.” Sans says. “And check your freaking phone once in a while.”  
You struggle to get out and manage to escape, hopping off the couch and sticking your tongue out at him.  
“Getting cocky kid.” Sans cocks and eye at you. “You wanna have a bad time?”  
You laugh and tell him he’ll have to catch you first before running into the kitchen. Surprisingly, Sans gives chase. You actually manage to dodge his blue magic, it striking Toriel instead, and you take advantage of Sans’ quick stall to run out into the back yard where it’d begun to pour again.   
You slip and fall into a particularly muddy puddle.   
“Kid!” Sans calls out to you, standing just outside the back door. “Come back inside!”  
You laugh and stand up, splashing in the mud defiantly.  
“My child!” Toriel appears beside Sans and calls for you to come in as well. “Come inside before you become ill!”  
You frown and tell them you want to play in the rain as a cold wind cuts through the back yard. You ask if they’ll come play with you?  
You’re suddenly blue and drifting back towards the house.  
“Come on.” Sans says, giving you a wry look. “Looks like your BAD time turned into a BATH time.”  
You protest and tell them that you want to play outside as you’re floated through the house to the bathroom, Toriel and Sans following you as the skeleton floats you ahead of them.   
“No can do kiddo.” Sans says. “It’s raining so much out there I’m temped to use my ketchup.”  
You and Toriel both look at him confusedly.  
“Because it’s raining hot cats and dogs.” Sans winks at them.  
You both laugh and, reluctantly, you stop struggling and take your bath. The warm water makes you drowsy and, by the time you’re in your pajamas, you feel like you could use a nap.   
“And where were you?!” Flowey snaps angrily at you as you come into the living room holding Toriel’s hand.  
You tell him Mettaton took you to lunch. Climbing onto the couch beside Sans you pick up the stuffed animal Mettaton had bought you and show it to Flowey.  
“Looks dumb.” Flowey says flatly. “Yeah, that tin can left with that loud mouth brother of yours.” He glares at Sans.  
“Watch it weed.” Sans warns. “Don’t you ever get tired of being a brat?”  
Flowey sticks his tongue out at Sans as Toriel goes back to the kitchen.   
“I heard you splashing out side in the mud, like an idiot.” Flowey says as Asgore comes into the living room. “You’re so easily entertained.”  
You shrug and grin as Asgore ruffles your damp hair.   
“Nothing wrong with enjoying the simple things.” Asgore assures you with a wide smile. “Have Mettaton and Papyrus already gone out?”  
“A few minutes ago.” Sans nods as Asgore takes a seat in his armchair.   
“Wonderful.” Asgore seems amused. “They’re quite a pair. I hope you’re not still worried about Papyrus, Sans?”  
“Eh, he’s a big kid.” Sans shrugs before ruffling your hair. “Don’t have much time to worry with this kid running off every chance they get.”  
You giggle sleepily and lean against Sans.   
“Either sleeping or running off.” Asgore agrees with a chuckle as he drapes a blanket over you. “I was told by the social worker that human children near Frisk’s age need at least nine hours of sleep a night.”  
You drift to sleep, snuggled warmly up against Sans and holding your new toy.


	15. Chapter 15

You’re pinned down by a blue spear through your right shoulder, desperately trying to crawl away.  
“You remember, I know you do…” the voice murmured as you writhed.   
A bone controlled by orange magic cracks down on your back, crushing you to the ground.  
“You remember every hit.” They say.   
Fire burns you left leg and you scream.  
“Every second of the pain…” It’s them, you just know it’s them.  
The three sharp ends of a trident skewer through your spine, the pain so intense that you can’t even scream.   
“But… I don’t think you know this.” They tell you, a hand grabbing your hair and pulling your head up so that you have to look into their bloody red eyes. “Or, perhaps, you do know and you’re just ignoring it?”  
The ground bellow you rumbles. They’re wearing Mettaton’s face but it’s their eyes, their bloody red eyes.  
Bones, sharper than blades, shoot from the ground. Hundreds of them run you through in every direction, raising you high above the black ground.  
“They’d do it again.” They say, walking casually across the tips of the bones coated in blue magic. “They would do all of this to you, all over again, without hesitation. All you have to do is tell them the wrong answers, do the wrong thing, fail a test.”   
All you can do is whimper softly.  
Mettaton’s leg is raised and the stilettoed heel cracks down on you, driving the bone shards deeper.  
You wake with a start, disoriented. The sheets and blankets around you are wet with sweat, your face covered in tears. You shakily get up and realize that your pajama bottoms are wet too… You’d wet the bed…  
You look through the darkness at Flowey but he’s asleep. You must not have cried out like you normally did during a nightmare. In a way you’re relieved… Flowey would have been merciless if he’d known you’d wet the bed…  
Changing pajamas first you gather up all of your sheets and blanket with shaking arms. The tears wouldn’t stop flowing down your cheeks. You take the bundle of dirty sheets and pajamas to the laundry room and put them in the washer but you aren’t tall enough to reach the soap.  
Shaking, the memory of the nightmare haunting you, you climb onto the washer to reach the soap. You’d underestimated how heavy the bottle is and you nearly topple off the washer.   
“Whoa there partner!” You’re caught in a pair of warm, fuzzy, arms and find yourself looking up at Asgore. “What’re you doing up?”  
You shake your head silently.  
“Doing laundry?” Asgore asks, setting you on the floor and taking the bottle of detergent from you.   
You remain silent, quickly trying to wipe the tears from your face and eyes.  
Asgore looks at you with concern before glancing in the machine, his nostrils flaring a little. Understanding dawns on him and he gives you a sympathetic smile before unscrewing the lid of the detergent.  
“Asriel used to have this issue sometimes.” Asgore tells you, turning on the machine after measuring out the soap. “I’ll never forget how embarrassed he’d be... But it happens, it’s just an accident.”   
You nod quietly and try to smile up at Asgore, but you just can’t.  
“I think Toriel keeps the bed sheets in the closet.” Asgore says, picking you up and taking you down the hall with him.  
You’re grateful for the contact and wrap your arms around his neck, hugging him.  
“It’s alright buddy.” Asgore pats your back soothingly. “No harm done, just an accident.”   
He turns on the hall light and goes to the closet. Still holding you he opens the door and pulls out another set of sheets and blanket. Asgore carries you into your room and sets you, along with the sheets, on the bed and hands you the stuffed bunny Mettaton had bought you.   
With more care than you had seen him ever use Asgore quietly removes Flowey’s pot before turning on the light and takes him out of the room. You hold your toy tightly to you, the light from the hall dimly lighting your room.   
It was just a dream, you keep thinking to yourself, that’s all.  
“Flowey can sleep in my room tonight.” Asgore tells you, his voice soft, as he comes back to your room and turns on the light. “Let’s make your bed and get you settled again. Alright Frisk?”  
You nod and help Asgore make your bed. You’re able to calm down by focusing on making the bed and by the time Asgore tucks you in you’d stopped crying and your face had dried.  
“There you go partner.” Asgore smiles happily down at you, tucking your sides in firmly and placing your bunny next to you. “Safe and sound. Just go back to sleep and don’t worry about this. Accidents happen.”   
You nod and manage a small smile for him.   
Asgore smiles back and ruffles your hair before turning off the light on his way out.   
You lay still for a while, thinking about sleep, before giving up. Flowey wasn’t here to talk to and you still didn’t know if you wanted to talk to him about this anyway…   
Asgore or Toriel would listen but you were certain you’d only worry them… Papyrus wouldn’t understand and besides he’s having a sleep over with Mettaton tonight. The last person you could go to is Sans. He’d understand… He’d been telling you to come to him… But what if…  
Shakily, you get out of bed. Clutching your toy you creep out of your room and down the hall. You go towards Sans’ room nervously.   
You’d just ask. If he told you what you’re afraid of you’d just pretend it was a dumb question and go back to you room. You’d just go back to your room and deal with this on your own. That wouldn’t be so bad, at least you’d know then.  
Quietly, you crack open the door and look in. Pitch black.  
You whisper Sans’ name, suddenly feeling afraid, and ask if he’s awake.   
There’s a shuffling noise and you see something blue flair, Sans’ eye.  
“Wassup kiddo?” Sans’ drowsy voice comes from the back right corner of the room.  
You stutteringly tell him that you have a question, inching into the room.  
“Yeah, okay,” He yawns. “Come’ere.”   
You begin to shake, uncontrollably, and are grateful for how dark the room is.   
“What’s up?” Sans asks, as you get closer to his bed.  
Toriel had made Sans use a proper bed after he and Papyrus had moved in with them. She even made him keep his room some kind of clean which had surprised everyone.  
You, nervously, ask what he’d do to you if you… Said or did something he didn’t like…  
“What?” Sans’ sleepy voice becomes honestly confused. “If you did something I didn’t like?”  
You nod, fearful tears filling your eyes.   
“I’d ask you why you did whatever you did.” Sans says, sitting up and his eye glowing brighter. “Why’re you asking…” His words trail off as he gets a look at the fear on your tear stained face. “Whoa, hey kid what’s wrong?”  
You tell him that you’re scared and that you don’t want to get hurt anymore.  
“What?” Sans asks, seeming to fully wake up at this. “Who’s gonna hurt… You had a nightmare.” Understanding dawns on him and he gingerly takes your hand and pulls you to him. “Come here, it’s alright, I’m here.”   
You hesitate, trembling so much your vision shakes, before you rush to him and let the tears fall. You sob so hard into his shoulder that your head aches.  
“It’s okay, it’s okay Frisk.” Sans tells you, his arms wrapping around you tightly. “Just let it out. It’s okay to cry, you have every right to cry…”   
You begin to apologize and say that you’re so afraid that you’re going to be hurt again.   
“No one’s going to hurt you.” Sans assures you, scooting back on the bed and adjusting you so that you were sitting on his legs. “You’re safe Frisk, none of us are going to let anyone hurt you. I promise.” He squeezes you tightly to his ribcage under his loose t-shirt. “And you know how I hate making promises.”   
You cling to him and continue to apologize.   
“Hey, hey, that’s enough…” A boney hand on either side of your face make you look at him. “Don’t apologize, it’s alright. You’re fine. Everyone is okay.”   
You beg him to not hurt you.  
Sans goes silent for a moment, letting you hide your face in his shirt.  
“Is that what your nightmare was about?” Sans asks softly.   
You shake your head, you don’t want to think about it.  
“Come on, you know you can always talk to me.” Sans tells you, rubbing your back. “I’m a good listener when I’m not asleep, and I’m wide awake right now kiddo.”  
You gasp in between your sobs and struggle to tell him that it was so much worse than the memories. It was a warning… If you ever put a toe out of line… What would happen to you… What he and everyone else would do to you…  
“We’re never going to hurt you kiddo.” Sans says softly. “We would help you out of whatever’s happened. Everyone cares about you. Everyone, Toriel, Asgore, Undyne, Alphys, Papyrus, Mettaton, me, we’re all here for you. We’re going to keep you safe.” He pulls you tightly to him. “I’m not going to let anyone hurt you Frisk. I’m going to help you. Whether you want it or not. You’re stuck with me, with all of us.” Sans chuckles and you feel something hard press against the crown of your head. “You’re not alone Frisk, just don’t give up on us, stay determined.”   
You nod and take a deep, shuddering, breath.   
“That’s it, just breath.” Sans tells you as you begin to calm down. “I’m here… I’m not going to let anything hurt you.”  
It takes time but, eventually, you’re able to breath normally again. Once you finally stop crying you slump weakly against Sans.  
You ask if you can stay with him tonight, you’re too afraid to sleep alone.  
“Of course kiddo.” Sans tells you, reaching over and grabbing his blanket. “I’m too lazy to take you back to bed anyway.”  
You clung tightly to Sans, still afraid to fall asleep, but after some time you begin to feel safe. With that safety came the sleepiness in a big wave. Soon, you’re fast asleep, safe and warm beside your dunkle.  
You don’t see him and don’t hear him, but you know that Gaster was in your dreams that night. It was like a warm presence wrapped itself around you. All you dream about after the nightmare was of happier times. Playing with your friends, eating meals, exploring. They’re such warming, encouraging, dreams and memories. These dreams make you feel safe and loved. They fill you with DETERMINATION.  
You rouse at voices in the room, but your eyes are too heavy to open.  
“Another nightmare?” It’s Toriel’s voice.  
“Yeah.” Sans replies, a bony hand rubbing your back. “Really shook them up this time.”  
“Asgore told me…” Toriel’s voice is gentle as the bed shifts. “They wet their sheets and Asgore helped them get their pajamas and bedding into the washing machine.”  
“Yeesh,” Sans’ response makes a faint smile dance on your face. “didn’t know it was that bad.”   
You whine as Sans moves, your head on his ribcage.  
“I’m not going anywhere kiddo.” Sans assures you, a boney hand on the top of your head as a larger one rubs your back. “Sorry if their empty bed scared you Tori.”  
“I assumed after Asgore had told me that they’d be in here.” Toriel says gently. “Mettaton’s told us what their nightmares are… I’m guessing you already know?”  
Sans tenses and you freeze under the covers, the warm sleepiness beginning to fade.  
“He says that they still remember how everyone had tried to harm them…” Toriel finally tells Sans. “That’s what their nightmares are, aren’t they? They come to you… They trust you… Because you never tried to hurt them… Not like us… Not like me…”   
“Tori…” Sans’ voice is soft, like he’s trying to comfort her. “You were just trying to protect them, you’d never meant to harm them.”  
“But they’re afraid of me too…” Toriel says as the weight on the edge of the bed lifts. “Sans… Just make sure that they know how much we love them… That they can always come to us too… and… I’m grateful for all that you’re doing for Frisk…”  
“I know Tori.” Sans replies, a soft chuckle riding his words. “They know too, believe me they know. They’re just scared.”   
“I know…” Toriel’s voice sounds so sad. “I’ll bring in breakfast for you both in a little bit.”  
“You don’t gotta” Sans begins.  
“I want to.” Toriel cuts him off. “So, please, just stay with Frisk for now… You both had a long night I assume…”  
You hear her footsteps and the door close. Sans’ sigh is what finally makes you want to open your eyes.  
“It’s alright kiddo.” Sans says, a boney hand petting your head as you groan trying to wake up. “Just relax.”  
You open your eyes, the brightness of the room making you squeeze them shut again and pull the covers over your head.  
“Heh, heh,” Sans chuckles. “A little bright for ya kid?”   
You groan in response, how was his room so bright?!  
“You can blame the sun that’s shining outside and the fact that Paps won’t let me put up shades on the windows.” Sans chuckles, sitting up all the way. “Come on, hiding under the covers won’t change the fact that it’s morning. Paps will come in and drag you out of bed eventually, trust me I know from experience.”   
Groaning a final time you peak your head out of the covers and look up at Sans. He was grinning his usual lazy grin at you and seemed no different from his usual self.  
You thank him for last night and apologize for waking him up.  
“Hey, come here kid.” Sans pulls you up and makes you sit next to him. “Don’t start that apologizing for things you can’t control again, I’ve had more than my fill of it.” He gives you a gentle squeeze, an arm around your shoulders. “Its okay, I’m here for you, everyone’s here for you.”   
You smile nervously and nod. You tell him that you know but… you still appreciate it.  
“What’re dunkles for?” Sans chuckles before ruffling your hair. “You know… It’s a beautiful day outside, I woke up to birds singing… Flowey is still alive and blooming, which I suppose is a good thing but that weed’s whining is not my ideal way of waking up.” He grins down at you. “Let’s go do something fun today. Go visit Alphys and Undyne, maybe get a ride and go get Icecream.”   
You grin and nod quickly.   
“Cool,” Sans yawns. “Hit Grillbys later, if you want a laugh you should definitely come along for that. I don’t think Grillby will know what to do with himself once I do what I’m planning on doin.”   
You wonder what kind of joke Sans was planning to pull on the fire monster as a firm knock comes from the door.  
“Who’s there?” Sans calls.  
“SANS!” Comes Papryus’ warning tone.  
“Sans who?” Sans grins.  
“ITS TOO EARLY FOR YOUR INFERNAL PUNS!” Papyrus says as the door opens.   
Mettaton and Papyrus enters, the robot carrying a pair of steaming mugs and the skeleton carrying a tray laden high with food. What catches your eye most is a tall, warbling, stack of pancakes that sways back and forth precariously.   
“Geez, you two trying to feed an army?” Sans asks as you eye the food.   
“Just a growing little star and you.” Mettaton gives you both a dazzling smile, handing you each a mug. “Golden flower tea for Frisk and coffee for you.”   
You take the warm mug and thank them for bringing your food.   
“NYEH HEH!” Papyrus smiles widely, putting the tray on the bed in front of you and Sans. “TODAY’S BREAKFAST IS A SPECIAL TREAT FROM YOUR’S TRULLY! SPAGHETTI PANCAKES!”  
“Uh, what?” Sans looks honestly confused as you take a pancake from the stack and put it on one of the separate plates.   
“A RECIPE OF MY OWN DESIGN TO DISPELL ANY UNFRIENDLY FEELINGS THAT MAY LINGER AFTER A BAD NIGHTMARE!” Papyrus explains excitedly.  
You bite into the pancake and find noodles had been mixed into the batter and, in the very center, marinara sauce. Your eyes go wide as your mouch fills with the texture and flavors of the pancake.   
Just like that the pancake was gone and you were reaching for another.  
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wolf something down like that kid.” Sans comments as you devour the second. “I think they like it Paps.”  
“BUT OF COURSE!” Papyrus is very pleased, sharing a high five with Mettaton. “THIS IS BUT THE FIRST OF MANY MORE PAPYRUS METTATON COLLABORATIONS TO COME!”  
“Pappy and I figured out the recipe last night over supper as a surprise for everyone.” Mettaton explains, his arm extending across Papyrus’ shoulders and he leans comfortably against the skeleton. “Of course, anything we make would be fabulous.”   
You nod in agreement, finishing the second large pancake and reaching for a third despite your rapidly filling stomach.  
“Although, you really should slow down a touch darling.” Mettaton adds as you take a massive bite out of the pancake.   
“I DON’T THINK I’VE EVER SEEN THE HUMAN EAT SO FAST!” Papyrus says excitedly. “DO YOU LIKE IT HUMAN?!”  
You nod emphatically as Sans reaches for one. You tell him this is the best thing you’ve ever tasted!  
“NYEH HEH!” Papyrus is elated. “WONDERFUL, I SHALL GO MAKE MORE!”   
“Paps I don’t think…” Sans begins but the skeleton didn’t stay long, grabbing Mettaton and running out of the room. The smaller skeleton takes a bite of the pancake and his eyes flash a little. “Heh, these are pretty good.”   
You nod, happily munching on your third.  
“Are you even tasting the pancake?” Sans asks as you demolish your third. “You’re inhaling them.”  
Yes, you tell him, they’re just so good.  
Despite how good they are though the pancakes are large and the third one did you in. Nursing your cup of warm tea you drink it and lean against the pillow. Now, content and full, you’re tempted to roll back over to sleep.  
“If you want to sleep a bit longer you can.” Sans seems to read your mind, your empty mug drifting in blue magic to the desk. “Just get comfy.”  
You shake your head and tell him you want to have fun today.  
“Alright.” Sans chuckles. “Go get dressed, I’ll finish up here and call Alphys and see if they’ve got any plans today.”  
Grinning, you get out of bed and head towards your room.  
“You’re awake.” Toriel smiles warmly at you as she puts clean sheets in the hall closet. “Did you eat already my child?”  
You nod and tell her that you loved the spaghetti pancakes. You ask if you can have them for lunch too?  
“I think Papyrus and Mettaton are making more now, so I don’t see why not.” Toriel says. “Are you getting dressed for the day?”  
You nod and tell her that Sans said he was going to call Alphys and Undyne to see if they wanted to play. He also said that maybe you could go get ice cream. You ask Toriel if she’ll come play with you too?  
“I think that’s a wonderful idea.” Toriel takes your hand walks you to your room. “You’ll have to dress warmly. It’s quite cold out today.”  
You ask if you can wear one of the new sweaters that Mettaton brought you and a pair of sneakers?  
“Of course.” Toriel chuckles. “Here, arms up.”  
You raise your arms and she pulls your pajama top off. Once out of the top you go to the wardrobe to pick the sweater you wanted to wear. There was a bright purple one that had in big, glittery, letters “MTT” on the front of it that you picked.   
You hold up the sweater to Toriel but your goat mom had a stricken expression on her face.  
“M-My child?” Toriel seems shaken. “What happened to your back?”  
You tilt your head to the side, nothing that you knew of. You ask why and Toriel takes a deep breath.  
“It doesn’t hurt?” She asks, taking the sweater from you and gingerly pulling it over your head.   
You shake your head and look up at her confusedly.  
“Just give me a moment.” Toriel kneels behind you, her large hand resting on your back and growing warm. “How does that feel?”  
Warm, you tell her, and nice.  
“Well, that should do it…” Toriel sighs, removing from under your sweater. “Alright, get some pants and socks out.”   
Once you’re dressed you run out into the house excitedly and find Sans waiting on the couch.   
“Undyne and Alphys are free and on their way.” Sans tells you as he lazes on the couch. “Paps and Mettaton have made enough of those pancakes to build a house with so I think we’ll be eating those for a while…”  
You grin at that and rush to the kitchen where Papyrus and Mettaton were busily cranking out dozens of the pasta cakes.  
“And where have you been?!” Flowey snaps at you angrily from the kitchen table where he sits next to Asgore while the King of Monsters drinks his coffee and enjoys a spaghetti pancake. “I go to sleep next to your numbskull and wake up to king fluffy butt! What the heck Frisk?!”  
You apologize and tell him that you slept over with Sans last night.   
“Are you feeling better?” Asgore asks you with an easy going smile.  
You nod and tell him much, then ask if you can get a glass of milk.   
“Sure.” Asgore says, getting up and getting you a glass. “I’m glad you’re feeling better. If I heard Sans right we have quite a fun day in store for us.”   
Taking the glass of milk from him you excitedly tell Asgore that you’re going to play with all of your friends, then get icecream, then go to Grillby’s.  
“Quite a busy day for you Frisk!” Asgore’s laugh booms as Toriel and Sans appear in the entrance to the kitchen.  
Grinning at them you ask how long until Undyne and Alphys arrive.  
“In a little while my child.” Toriel says. “Frisk, I know this might be a strange request but could you show me your back again?”  
Tilting your head to the side you shrug and then turn your back to her and lift your shirt over it. Asgore and Flowey both look over curiously.  
“HUMAN DID YOU GET HURT?!” Papyrus’ worried voice makes you look up curiously.  
You shake your head, putting your shirt back down.   
“Those look like…” Asgore’s words trail off and he suddenly rises from his seat, his face more serious that it had been in months.  
“What happened kiddo?” Sans asks, the concern in his voice heavy. “You didn’t say you were actually hurt last night.”  
You shake your head again and tell him you didn’t get hurt.   
“Then…” Sans begins.  
“Darling, is that one of the new sweaters I brought you?” Mettaton cuts off the smaller skeleton, actually pushing him out of the way to obstruct your view.  
You grin and show it to him, twirling for Mettaton when he bid’s you to.   
“Oh it’s absolutely darling on you!” Mettaton gushes loudly as Sans grumbles.  
“Frisk,” Asgore returns, in his hand was the large red trident that he’d wielded as a scepter.   
Your eyes go wide on the trident, locking on the weapon. Your legs lock as the dull red metal of the trident gleams brightly in your eyes, coated in fresh blood. Your blood. Your body aches, remembering all the times that trident had pierced you through.   
“Darling?” Mettaton’s voice is a distant din in your ears. “Are you alright? You look pale.”   
Something moves in your peripheral vision and the house around you melts away and the dreary underground is all around you.  
“Run Frisk!” A voice screams desperately in your head. “Run!”   
You duck under the table and bolt out the back door. Through the short, muddy, grasses of Waterfall you race towards a low cliff. Leaping into the air you scramble over the ledge as the monsters chase you.  
Falling over the edge of the cliff you bolt through Snowden, running between buildings and trees. You’re down the main road of Snowden now, the cold air biting through your work sweater.  
“They’re coming!” The voice in your head sobs. “Run! R-U-N!”   
Ahead of you is Undyne the Undying in her full armor marching towards you. She spots you and the monsters giving chase behind you call out. Suddenly she’s racing full speed towards you.   
Your legs take flight and you run directly at her as the Captain of the Royal guard reaches out her hands to capture you. At the last moment you duck and skid under her and scramble back to your feet. Your lungs are burning but you can’t stop.   
There are more monsters, all around you, the residence of Snowden coming out at the ruckus.   
“The woods!” The desperate voice cries in your head. “Get to the woods!”   
You veer sharply into the woods and duck into the dense trees. Running and making many random sharp turns you run up a steep incline. You push past the burning in your side. Past the screaming pain of your leg muscles. Just as you feel like you can’t go on any more…  
Running for your life fills you with DETERMINATION!  
A second wind carries you higher and higher as you run faster than you ever had before. You run and run, the branches of the trees whipping you as you go. Something underfoot gives way and you’re sent sprawling.   
Your heart is in your throat and it burns to breath. Gasping you frantically scramble to get up but your ankle gives out under you. Tears begin to fill your eyes and all you can do is hide your face in your arms and cry, begging that they don’t find you.   
“” A broken voice says somewhere nearby. “”  
A gentle hand rests on the crown of your head and you look up to see the melting form of Gaster.  
“This isn’t real.” You hear Gaster’s voice in your head as he speaks his strange language. “Just another nightmare. Close your eyes. I’ll give you more dreams.”  
Trembling, you obey. Closing your eyes you feel the pain in your chest begin to ebb. Your breathing becomes easier.   
Sunshine warms your back and birdsong overhead sooths you. The world suddenly feels peaceful… You feel safe as you roll onto your back and feel your heartbeat steady. Gaster rests a hand on either side of your head and you feel the mess of thoughts and memories that had terrified you melt away.  
“One of my sons approach.” Gaster’s voice is gentle in your mind as his broken speech fills your ears. “You can trust them, let them take you home. Chara has done their damage today, I will not let them do more.”   
“HUMAN?” A familiar voice calls out to you. “HUMAN!!!”  
Your eyes begin to drift closed as Papyrus’ worried skull fills you vision.   
“NO HUMAN! YOU MUST WAKE UP!” You’re suddenly jostled. “YOU CAN’T GO! YOU CAN’T LEAVE NOW! WHO WILL TRY MY SPAGHETTI AND HELP ME WITH SANS?! I WANTED TO GO TO THE BEACH WITH YOU! I’LL MAKE YOU AS MANY SPAGHETTI PANCAKES AS YOU WANT! WE CAN PLAY BASKET BALL AND MAKE PUZZLES TOGETHER! I’LL BRING YOU ONTO METTATON’S SHOW AND WATCH YOU D-DANCE A-AGAIN!” Papyrus’ anxious voice becomes desperate sobs. “I-I’LL MAKE YOU ALL THE SP-SPAGHETTI P-PANCAKE YOU C-COULD EVER WANT! P-PLEASE FRISK! OPEN YOUR EYES!”  
Your eyes open as you’re crushed to Papyrus’ ribcage, the tall skeleton kneeling over you as he began to cry.   
You gently wrap your arms around his next and hug him tightly, murmuring that you’re sorry for running off like that.  
“H-HUMAN?!” Papyrus pulls back, looking down at you with tears pouring out his eye sockets. “HUMAN! YOU’RE OKAY?!”   
You smile and nod, telling him that you just had a nightmare but Gaster helped you.  
“WHO?” Papyrus looks confused before he smiles. “WHERE IS YOUR FRIEND? I WANT TO MEET THEM AND THANK THEM FOR VANQUISHING YOUR NIGHTMARE!”  
You tell him that he had to go away, but he’ll be back eventually.  
“I WILL MAKE HIM ALL OF THE FINEST PASTA DISHES WHEN HE DOES!” Papyrus rises to his feet, carrying in his arms. “AND HE AND I WILL BECOME GREAT FRIENDS TOO! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL SETTLE FOR NO LESS!”  
You giggle and tell Papyrus that you’re so tired…  
“P-PLEASE, DON’T CLOSE YOUR EYES AGAIN YET.” Papyrus looks fearfully down at you. “AT LEAST UNTIL WE’RE BACK. THE OTHERS ARE SO WORRIED AND WILL BE AFRAID IF YOU’RE EYES ARE CLOSED!”  
You sigh wearily before nodding and smile up at Papyrus.  
“THE CIRCUMSTANCES ASIDE YOUR ABILITY TO RUN AND DODGE ARE TRULY IMPRESSIVE!” Papyrus talks on as he carries you out of the woods. “YOU EVADED ALL OF OUR BEST EFFORTS TO CATCH YOU! EVEN BLUE MAGIC! UNDYNE HAD NEARLY CAUGHT UP TO YOU UNTIL YOU’D MADE IT INTO THE WOODS! YOU ARE TRULY THE EPITOME OF CARDIOVASCULAR ENDURANCE!”  
Papyrus’ words make you giggle as you make it out of the tree line. You’re so weary, you rest your head against his ribcage and yawn.   
“I’VE FOUND THEM!” Papyrus calls, beginning to run forward. “THEY’RE ALRIGHT! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE FOUND OUR HUMAN!”  
You try to smile and just barely manage to keep your eyes open as your friends and family rush to you both. They look so worried, there was so much concern in their eyes, and you tried to keep your smile up. You tried to stay awake to tell them how sorry you are. You try to reassure them.


	16. Chapter 16

Back home Toriel heals your ankle and you sit still in your bedroom for her to examine your back before spending some time healing it. You don’t talk about what had just happened and she doesn’t bring it up. There’s a nervous tension in the house as you come out of your room, your friends in the hall looking at you as though you had a second head.  
“I think that perhaps the park isn’t such a good idea today.” Toriel says calmly, her hand on your shoulder. “Frisk? Are you feeling tired at all? If you’d like you can rest.”  
You shake your head, pushing weary thoughts from your mind. You don’t want to worry your friends any more than they already are. Instead you ask if perhaps you can all play in the backyard? Or maybe a board game? You don’t want to coop everyone inside on such a pretty day.  
“Y-Yes, it is a n-nice day.” Alphys agrees, looking up at Undyne. “Un-Undyne, d-didn’t you just g-get those th-things for th-that g-game you want t-to learn?”  
“Yeah!” Undyne grins excitedly as the tension begins to abate. “Paps! Run back to Alphys’ and my place with me, I just got some rackets and a net to learn how to play badminton!”   
Relief fills you as everyone seems to spur to life. Mettaton eagerly announces that they’re going to referee and asks if they can invite Napsiblook so that they can assist. Alphys and Asgore use the computer to print out the rules of the game. Toriel seems relieved and begins making refreshments for everyone. The only person who hasn’t seem to grasp onto this is Sans but you try to avoid his gaze as you go get Flowey.  
“What the frick was that about Frisk?” Flowey grumbles at you as you carry him into the backyard, Sans following you silently.   
You shrug and tell him you don’t really know. One moment everything was fine, then you saw Asgore with his Trident and you got scared.   
You don’t tell Flowey about hearing a voice in your head or about Gaster, but you know you’ll tell him eventually. Just like you’ll have to tell Sans. But for now… You’re going to play with your friends and have a good day.   
Looking around you find an empty plant stand and pull it over to put Flowey’s pot on.   
“Look it’s Undyne!” You hear a familiar voice over the gate while you make Flowey comfy.  
“Hey kid…” Sans walks up to you, reaching out to put a hand on your shoulder.  
You quickly rush away, to the gate, and open it to see Monster Kid.  
You call over to Monster Kid and ask if he wants to come play badminton with everyone?  
“Really?!” Monster Kid is beside himself with excitement and rushes over. “Is that what Undyne and Papyrus are doing?”  
You nod excitedly and tell him that they’re getting the stuff from Undyne’s house for it.   
“This is going to be so awesome!” Monster Kid says as you walk him into the backyard with him, Sans’ eyes following you as you move with the other kid. “I get to play with Undyne at the royal house!”  
You grin, pushing the uneasy feeling in your stomach away, and lead Monster Kid into the house. You tell Toriel that you invited Monster Kid to come play too and ask if that’s alright?  
“Of course my child.” Toriel welcomes Monster Kid with a warm smile. “And what’s you’re name child?”  
“M-M…” Monster Kid is star struck meeting the queen. “M-Monster K-Kid, m-my friends call me MK though, majesty.”   
“No need for that MK.” Toriel smiles at him, patting both of your heads. “If your parents won’t mind you staying for a while I’ll have a pie made in a bit.”   
You grin widely at MK as he emphatically agrees, eager to stay a while.  
Napsiblook arrives shortly after with Mettaton carrying a boom box with his latest mix CD, Undyne and Papyrus shortly after. You and MK team up with Asgore to play badminton against Undyne, Papyrus, and Mettaton. Sans decided to sit out of the game, instead watching with Flowey who was in charge of flinging the birdy into the game. Toriel watched from the side once the tea was made and pie baking. Alphys constantly consulted a small stack of papers where the rules were written and score kept. Despite not being what you had hoped for the day, it was still fun. Even though you lost.   
As the sun began to set and everyone began to head home after eating pie you offer to walk MK home.   
“I think that Undyne can make sure he get’s home safe.” Asgore says as everyone but MK exchange anxious looks. “if you don’t mind, Undyne?”  
“Not at all.” Undyne grins down at her fan. “Come on kid, Alphys and I live near you any way.”   
An uneasy feeling settles in your stomach again as you smile and wave goodbye to MK.   
“Pappy and I are going to walk Blooky home.” Mettaton says, hugging his ghostly cousin tightly. “I haven’t gotten a chance to catch up with you in too long darling! We have some serious chatting to do!”   
“Oh….” Napsiblook looks bashfully happy at this. “If you want…. You don’t have to….”  
“OF COURSE WE WANT TO!” Papyrus says. “METTATON HAS TOLD ME A GREAT DEAL ABOUT YOU AND YOUR MIX CD WAS GREAT! NOT AS GREAT AS I BUT NEARLY THERE! I WOULD LIKE TO HEAR MORE OF IT!”  
As the group continues their goodbyes you slip away with Flowey back to your bedroom, hoping to avoid what you knew was coming.   
“So?” Flowey asks as soon as you close the bedroom door. “Why’re you avoiding them now? See a ghost?”  
You shake your head and tell him that you have an uneasy feeling.  
“Because you ran off like an idiot?” Flowey asks. “Yeah, I’m surprised Toriel didn’t ground your ass.”   
You think about it and agree, hoping out loud that this will all just blow over and everyone can forget about it.  
“That’s some wishful thinking kid.” Sans’ voice comes through the door.  
“WHAT THE HECK TRASHBAG?!” Flowey snaps as the door opens, Sans leaning against the frame with a dark expression. “DIDN’T ANYONE EVER TELL YOU NOT TO EAVES DROP?!”  
“One or two.” Sans shrugs, you notice that his usual lazy grin looks strained. “But when my kiddo is having trouble I don’t really care. So, Frisk, care to tell ME what happened earlier? Or is it on a weed to know status?”  
You look between Flowey and Sans before telling him the truth. When Asgore came in with his trident you remembered having to fight him. That memory lead to others, where the monsters had chased you through the Underground, and you got scared so you ran.  
“And…” Sans’ eyes met yours’. “What about Gaster? Paps told me that you had mentioned him making the nightmare go away?”  
You go quiet, sitting on the edge of your bed, and nod.   
“How’d he make what was happening stop?” Sans asks, coming into the room and sitting beside you on the bed.  
You tell him that you’re not really sure, he just came to you and put his hand on your head. He said that he would give you dreams instead of nightmares. He told you when Papyrus was nearby and went away before the tall skeleton had found you.   
“How’d he know what was going on?” Sans asks, seeming to ask himself as much as asking you. “How’d he know Pap was nearby?”  
You shake your head, you don’t know. But you want to go see him, you tell Sans that you want to see him soon.   
“No.” Sans’ response is flat before he quickly laughs and lightens the air of the room. “Not right now. You’ve got school tomorrow, I’ve got work, we’re both behind in our naps, and the last place I want to take you right now is the Underground after today.”  
You apologize for earlier, feeling guilty for worrying them.  
“It’s alright, as long as you’re okay now.” Sans ruffles your hair.   
You nod and tell him you feel fine but you think you want to go to bed early tonight.  
“Not going to argue with that.” Sans’ grin widens. “Howzabout you change into pajamas and then we can watch T.V.? We’ll see how you feel closer to bedtime.”  
You nod and return his grin.   
“He’s not going to let you see Gaster again.” Flowey says as soon as Sans is out of the room and the door closed.   
You ask Flowey what he means?  
“I know you’re an idiot but I didn’t think you’re that dense.” Flowey give you a disgusted look. “Didn’t you see how all of them were looking at you?”  
You take off your shirt and think. He had a point, but they’re just worried about you. You shake your head and tell Flowey that you’d scared them all today, that’s why they’re being so over protective. In a few days everything will be normal.  
“Uh-huh.” Flowey says sarcastically. “Yeah, and Asgore and Toriel DIDN’T ask me to spy on you and tell them everything you tell me. Sure.”  
That makes you whip around, what? Why?   
“Oh, come on you’re not THAT surprised.” Flowey retorts. “Yeah, that’s why I’m allowed to come to school with you too because they want someone always watching you and why Asgore is always taking me to the shed out back.”  
You ask Flowey if he’s really been spying on you for them?  
“Pffff!” Flowey laughs. “Heck no! If I was I sure wouldn’t tell you about it. I just tell them stupid things and stuff that I can’t avoid. Like trashbag asking if you’re sleeping alright? Yeah, I told him you don’t sleep well but an idiot could see that. Little things, like you drawing tall skele-butt at school in art class or the fact that you only sometimes look like a lumbering oaf in PE.”   
You change as Flowey tells you everything. Why had they wanted him to spy on you? Didn’t they trust you? You’d understand it now, after today, kinda. But all this time?   
You ask if Alphys and Undyne knew? Who else knew that he was supposed to spy on you?  
“Wow, you really are so naïve.” Flowey sighs in exasperation. “They’re all in on it Frisk. Have you, ever, checked the apps on your phone?”  
You shake your head and immediately get your phone from the drawer of your bedside table and look through the apps. Everything looked normal except for one that looked like an upsidedown teardrop with a circle in the middle of it.  
“Click on it genius.” Flowey says.  
You do and the app opens.  
GPS PHONE TRACKER by Safer Families  
A deep sense of betrayal begins to seep into your core. Why was this on your phone?  
“Haven’t you noticed how they’re always telling you to keep your phone on you?” Flowey asks. “Or how trashbag found you so fast that one time you fell asleep on Mt. Ebbott? Yeah, that little app that Dr. Scales put on your phone.”  
You look at Flowey, your chest growing tight, and ask him why they hadn’t just told you that they wanted to know where you were?  
“Because… Well.” Flowey shrugs his leaves. “I don’t want to upset you or anything, you’re my only friend. After all,” He gives you a sad look. “You’re the only one here who actually wants me here. If they find out that I’ve told you all this stuff then trashbag will have my petals ripped off.”  
You shake your head and swear that you won’t let them. Just tell you why they’d been tracking you.  
“Because…” Flowey sighs before looking up at you with a twisted grin. “They. Don’t. Trust. You.” He laughs a little. “But, I mean, that’s not exactly a surprise with trashbag. He’ll never trust you. Everyone else being suspicious of you surprised even me. But…” He begins to sway back and forth. “Not really when you also consider all the little secret meetings they have behind your back.”  
You feel numb as you ask what secret meetings?  
“Oh, with each other.” Flowey casually mentions. “Your school. That social worker. Pretty much everyone.” He laughs slightly. “Betcha that they’re gonna ask Monster Kid to spy on you too. Although, they’ll be more clever. Ask him to tell them anything you tell him, not to let you know, because they’re WORRIED about you and don’t want you to get upset.”  
Your hand grips your phone tightly and you look down at the app.  
It was really simple, it was just an on and off button that was ticked to the “on” side.  
“Go ahead, turn it off.” Flowey smiles innocently, swaying back and forth. “See what happens.”  
You slide the switch to the “Off” side. Not even a minute later someone knocks on your door.  
You call who’s there? Putting your phone back in the drawer.  
“Boo.” Sans’ voice comes through the door.  
You ask Boo Who?  
“Aw, don’t cry.” Sans grins, opening the door and coming in.   
The joke makes you giggle as Flowey scowls at the skeleton.  
“Ready to watch T.V.?” Sans asks.  
You nod and pick up Flowey’s pot so that he can come out with you.  
“Why don’t you make yourself comfy, I gotta find my phone first.” Sans winks at you. “Mind if I use yours to call it?”   
You nod and tell him it’s in your bedside table.  
Toriel and Asgore are in the livingroom, sitting in their respective armchairs, and you thank them for such a fun day.   
“Any time partner.” Asgore grins at you as you sit on the couch. “We should play that game again.”  
You agree as something buzzes under your bottom. You reach between the cushions and find Sans’ phone ringing, the caller’s your own phone.   
You answer.  
“Hey, what’re you doing with my phone kid?” Sans’ voice from the other line makes you giggle. “I’m looking for that.”   
You giggle and tell him you’re going to hide his phone if he doesn’t come down quickly.  
Almost instantly Sans appears over the couch in a blue flash and falls onto it with his eyes closed.   
“Aww, come on kid.” Sans grins, opening one eye and holding out his hand to you. “to tele you the truth it’d be phone-tastic of you to gimme my cell back.”   
You and Toriel both laugh and you give him back his phone.   
Papyrus and Mettaton get home in the middle of the movie that Asgore had put on, something about a princess who had the power to freeze stuff and running away from her castle. You all had left over pizza pancakes for supper and then it was time for bed.   
Toriel tucked you securely in bed and checked to make sure your backpack was packed for tomorrow.  
“Asgore and I will be leaving tomorrow for the meeting of nations...” Toriel looks worried as she tucks the blanket firmly about you and brushes your hair back from your face.   
You tell her that’s okay and ask if she’ll be able to call you every night?  
“Yes.” Toriel smiles at you. “I promise I will.”   
You nod and tell her you’re excited that all the monsters are coming up from the Underground.   
“I am too.” Toriel gently kisses your forehead. “If you need anything I’ll be in my room, okay?”  
You tell her you know and that you hope she sleeps well.  
“You too, my child.” Toriel rises from the side of the bed and places a gentle kiss on one of Flowey’s petals. “Good night Flowey, sleep well.”  
Toriel turns off your light on the way out and you both wait a minute before you pull out your phone.  
“See?” Flowey asks as you check the app, it was switched back to “On”. “Told you.”  
You feel your stomach twist in a knot. Why would they lie to you about tracking you?  
“They don’t trust you.” Flowey whispers to you as you put the phone away and lay back against your pillow.  
You ask why? Why don’t they trust you though?  
“Well, even you should know why that comedian doesn’t.” Flowey’s voice is flat. “The others? Dunno. Then again why does that lizard have cameras all over the Underground?”  
You shake your head. Alphys had cameras there to monitor for humans, but those weren’t needed anymore. Why were they still on in the first place?  
Footsteps outside made you both go silent.  
The door quietly opens and you close your eyes like you’re asleep.  
A skeletal hand gently rests on your forehead.  
“Sleep well kiddo.”   
You remain still and wait for Sans to leave. Once the door’s closed you hear his voice softly through it.  
“They’re asleep.” You can barely hear Sans tell someone. “Not surprising after the day they’ve had.”  
As silently as you can you creep out of your bed and listen at the door.  
“I’ll call the school in the morning and ask that the teachers keep a close eye on them if they go outside.” Asgore’s deeper voice is easier to hear even if he’s whispering. “Just in case.”  
“Yeah,” Sans sighs. “If they have another nightmare I’ll tell you. I’m going to check on them a few times tonight.”  
“Thank you.” Toriel’s voice comes through. “We appreciate it, more so because you have work tomorrow.”  
“We all do.” Sans chuckles. “Don’t worry about it, I have some things I need to do tonight anyway. Don’t worry about the kiddo, Paps, just have a nice sleepover with Mettaton. I’ll make sure nothing happens to them.”  
Silently, you crawl back into bed. Despite how tired you are you can’t sleep, even after Flowey falls asleep.   
You’re angry.  
Angry that they don’t trust you.  
Angry that Flowey was right, you are too naïve.   
Angry that despite the fact that not even a year ago you had broken the barrier, despite every monster in the Underground attacking you and trying to kill you, you were being treated like a child.  
Well, you try to reason with yourself, technically you are a child.   
But you’d seen and done so much… much more than any of the kids at school had ever done.  
“Isn’t this what you wanted though?” A familiar voice startles you.  
You sit up like a shot, looking about the room.   
Flowey’s asleep on the bedside table. The lights were off and it was dark.   
“You wanted a happy ending didn’t you?” The same voice asks and you crawl out of bed.  
You look around, opening your wardrobe.  
“Colder.” The voice taunts.  
You move closer to the door.  
“Warmer.” The voice giggles.  
You touch your door.  
“Colder.” The voice taunts.  
You turn a little and look in your mirror. You barely manage to keep from screaming.  
“Hot.” A shadow in the mirror grins, sickeningly at you.   
It’s the same height as you, and looks a lot like you, but it’s eyes and smile were all wrong. Glowing red eyes, and impossibly wide smile.  
“Hello Frisk.” Chara giggles. “How’s your day been?”  
You begin to shake, unable to make a sound.  
“Not good?” Chara’s voice mocks concern. “What? Don’t you like everyone worrying about you? Doting on you? Protecting you?” their voice goes flat. “Controlling you?”  
You manage to shake your head.   
“You know, Flowey’s right,” Chara says, pointing to the edge of the mirror in the direction of Flowey. Even in the dark of the room and the fact that they were nothing else but a shadow in the mirror you can make out the outline of a knife in their hand. “They don’t trust you. They never will. But you know that. You’ve always known that.”  
You remain silent, your eyes filling with tears.  
“You know that they’ll never let you do what you want. But, then again,” Chara shrugs in the mirror. “Maybe you like being controlled. I mean, you made it so easy for me to. You handed yourself over to me all to happily in the Underground, don’t you remember?” Chara giggles. “Oh the fun we had!”  
You shake your head, tears falling. You don’t want to remember what you did…  
“If you’re tired of them controlling you I’m always here.” Chara says off handedly. “I’d be happy to liven things up, stir up the dust a bit.” She laughs.  
You say no, you don’t want to hurt anyone.  
“Really?” Chara asks. “Not even the bullies that had been hurting you?” Chara giggles. “Oh wait, that’s right, the comedian scared them off for you. Not after you’d given them a taste of what’s actually in you. Face it, Frisk,” their smile widens. “You and I are the same. You’re just playing house.”  
You shake your head, you’re not the same as them.  
“Really?” Chara’s head tilts to the side. “So, it wasn’t your hand that held this knife?” They hold up the shadow of a knife. “It wasn’t you who killed our mother? Your friends? Everyone?” The giggle. “If that’s the case then why do you even remember them killing you? How do you remember all that pain that your FRIENDS put you through?”   
You slip to your knees as the tears fall. You don’t want to remember. You don’t want to think about this.  
“Face it Frisk,” Chara’s voice is sweet as the shadow in the mirror begins to fade. “The only monster in this house is you, everyone else is just trying desperately to control you. Who knows? Maybe, deep down, they all remember what you’ve done to them. Wouldn’t that just be awful?”  
You curl your knees to your chest and cry quietly. The memories are too much and you clutch your head, trembling violently. What if they’re right? Fighting and struggling to survive. What if they all knew? Running for your life. What if they were just watching you, waiting…  
A sob whispers out of your mouth and you bite down on your knee to stifle it.   
You don’t want to remember. You don’t want to think about this. You just want to sleep and when you wake up not remember anything. You don’t want this.  
Something touches you and you just about jump out of your skin.  
A pair of boney hands grip your shoulders tightly and Sans’ blue eye is lit.  
“Come on, snap out of it Frisk.” He says softly, holding you firmly as you struggle. “It’s just a nightmare, you’re okay, you’re okay.”   
You stop struggling and stare at him for a moment before a sob tears out of your throat.  
You cry that you don’t want to hurt anyone. You don’t want to let Chara take control. You don’t want to remember.  
“It’s okay,” Sans pulls you to his ribcage and holds you tightly. “No one’s hurt, you’re not going to hurt anyone, it was just a dream.” He rubs a hand up and down your back while holding you tightly as Flowey rouses. “No one is getting hurt, that includes you. I’m here Frisk, you’re okay, it was just a dream.”  
You shake your head, saying into his hoodie that it was real. It was too real to be a dream.  
“Some dreams are like that.” Sans tells you, still holding you tightly to him and resting his other hand against the back of your head. “It was just a dream Frisk. You’re okay.”  
You shake your head again, but it wasn’t a dream and you’re not okay.  
“Shh,” Sans shushes your frantic sobs into his hoodie. “It’s okay Frisk. You’re okay. I’m here and I’m not going anywhere.” He squeezes you tightly as you continue to cry. “It’s alright, kiddo, just let it out. I’m here for you, you’re not alone Frisk. You’re going to be alright, we’re all going to be alright. Everything is going to be okay.”   
You continue to cry, your breathing speeding up without you meaning to. Your heart begins to race and the room around you spins. Your hands go numb and you lose your grip on Sans’ hoodie. Terror floods you as the last thing that Chara had said hits you like a train.  
What if everyone really remembers what you’ve done to them? What if they all know? What if they’re just waiting… Waiting for you to slip up?   
“Calm down kid, you need to calm down.” Sans’ words sound distant as sweat beads on your forehead. “Listen to me, you need to breath Frisk.”  
You struggle to take deep breaths, the first few gasping. But your breathing begins to steady after the first few struggled breaths.   
“That’s it.” Sans coaches you. “Nice and steady, just in and out. In…. Out…. That’s right, just breath. It’s alright. You’re not alone. None of us would let anyone take you from us. Nothing’s going to happen to you. You’re not alone.”   
You nod and are able to push yourself up. Sitting up, you rub your eyes and take another deep breath.  
“You good?” Sans asks you, his hand resting on your shoulder.   
You nod again and look around the room. The light was on, Flowey staring at you confusedly from your bedside table, both you and Sans were on the floor next to the mirror.  
You apologize for waking Sans up as you wonder how no one else had heard you.  
“You didn’t.” Sans explains. “Was swinging by to check on you. Tibia honest, after today, I was a little worried.”   
You go silent and nervously look back at the mirror. It was just your reflection, no shadows.   
You tell both Sans and Flowey that Chara was here, that they were in the mirror.  
“WHAT?!” Flowey’s eyes go wide, the flower seeming to pale.   
“Kid…” Sans frowns, glancing at the mirror himself. “I’ve been nearby all night, I didn’t sense anyone else in here.”   
You shake your head and tell him that it was definitely Chara and that they were here.  
“Are you sure it wasn’t a nightmare?” Sans asks.  
You nod and tell him that you want to see Gaster right now, that maybe he would know what was going on.  
“No.” Sans says instantly.   
You ask why? Gaster could help you.  
“How do you know that he’s not behind this?” Sans snaps harshly. “You don’t know him like I do.”  
You recoil at his harsh voice and look back at Flowey for support.  
“Kid, just trust me.” Sans says, his voice gentling, getting up and holding a hand out to you. “I won’t hurt you, haven’t I proven enough to you that I’m just trying to keep you safe?”  
You take his hand and nod silently.   
“Then please, trust me.” Sans leads you back to your bed. “Don’t go looking for Gaster. He’d dangerous.”  
You ask as he makes you get back in bed how he was dangerous? Why’d Sans think that?  
Sans’ eyes go black for a moment before he gives a dark chuckle.  
“Someday, when all of this is over, I’ll tell you.” Sans says, pulling the covers back up to your chin. “But right now I’m not going to give you more nightmare fuel. So, for now, just trust me.” He ruffles your hair. “Alright?”  
Silently, you nod and rest back against your pillow.  
“Do you want me to go get Tori?” Sans asks.  
You shake your head and thank him for helping you again. You tell him that he’s the best dunkle you could ever ask for.  
“Heh, anything for you kid.” He chuckles and gives you a wink before turning towards the door. “No more nightmares tonight, alright? I’ll be around if you need anything.”   
You nod and say good night, waiting for him to leave. On his way out Sans clicks the lights off, but you look over at Flowey.  
You ask him what he thought about everything.  
“I think that you’re an idiot and trashbag is stupid.” Flowey grumbles. “Chara was really here?”  
You nod and tell him that they were in the mirror, they even pointed at him.  
Flowey goes silent.  
“Were they…” He pauses. “Were they mad at me?”  
You shake your head and tell him that they agreed with you about no one here trusting you.  
“Yeah…” Flowey sighs.  
You ask what you should do?  
“How’d they get in here without anyone noticing is what I want to know.” Flowey mutters. “I can tell when another soul is nearby, any monster can sense other souls.”  
You ask what he means.  
“Dummie!” Flowey snaps. “Monsters are more attuned to our souls, so we can sense when other souls are nearby!”  
A chill runs down your spin and a sense of foreboding seeps into the room.  
You ask who he senses right now?  
“You, trashbag is clsoest.” Flowey closes his eyes and focusses. “Loud mouth, metal butt, Toriel, Asgore…”He frowns. “Me. That’s it.”  
You pause as the room seems to grow darker.   
“Poor poor Flowey.” Chara’s voice resonates through the room and you begin to shake. “Can’t even tell when his best friend is here.”  
“Frisk?” Flowey looks at you. “Are you alright?”  
You feel the blood drain from your face as a hand rests on your shoulder, pinching the base of your neck sharply.  
“They can’t see me Frisk.” Chara whispers sweetly into your ear. “They can’t hear me either.”  
You tell Flowey that Chara’s here.  
“What?!” Flowey’s voice becomes worried and he looks around anxiously. “Where?!”  
“Silly flower.” Chara giggles. “Bad child.” A hand snakes around your throat and begins to squeeze. “You shouldn’t say naughty things Frisk, I have to dicispline you when you say things you shouldn’t.”   
You gasp, reaching to your throat to fight the hands squeezing the air from you. Your nails dig into your own skin and you cry out.   
“Frisk?!” Flowey’s shouting. “What the hecks going on?! Frisk!”   
The bedroom door slams open and the lights flash on as you struggle to breath.  
“What’s going on?!” Sans runs into the room and watches as you struggle to breath.  
“They said Chara was back and then they started doing this!” Flowey snaps at him. “Do something trashbag!”  
Sans reaches for your hands and pulls them away from your throat.   
“Breath kid, breath!” Sans urges you. “It’s alright! It’s just a nightmare!”  
You gasp, desperately trying to tell him it wasn’t.  
As the room waivers in your vision what feels like a jolt of electricity shoots from Sans’ hands through you.   
Chara’s voice screams and their hands around your throat release. Gasping, great lungfulls of air, your vision returns.   
“!” The broken words echo in the room.  
Sans’ eyes go wide at the broken voice of Gaster, seeming to come from his own mouth.  
“What the?” He freezes, his hands releasing yours like they’d been burned.  
You sit up, looking about the room anxiously as foot steps could be heard outside.  
“Is everything alright?” Toriel makes it to the room first, Asgore close behind her as Mettaton and Papyrus bring up the rear.   
Sans stares at you, his expression the most lost you’d ever seen it.  
You stutteringly tell everyone that it was fine, you’d just had another nightmare.  
“Oh, my child.” Toriel comes to the bedside and hugs you tightly. “Are you alright?”   
You nod, rubbing your neck nervously.   
“What was the burst in energy?” Asgore asks, looking between Sans and Flowey.   
“Trashbag couldn’t wake Frisk up.” Flowey fills the silence. “So, I hit them with a friendliness pellet.”  
“Are you hurt?” Toriel asks as they crowd the room, gently pushing your bangs from your face and looking you over. “Frisk, let me see your HP.”  
You bring up the panel and feel your soul drop as you look at the score.   
11/20  
“I can understand wanting to help them wake up Flowey,” Asgore seems both surprised and a little angry. “But that’s a little much, don’t you think?”  
“Sorry,” Flowey blushes. “Don’t know my own strength…”  
You quickly say that you appreciate him waking you and ask Toriel if you could have something to eat?”  
“Of course, my child.” She rises from the side of the bed and pets your head again. “I’ll have something ready in just a moment.”  
You nod and put on a brave face as Toriel leaves, Asgore trailing behind her.  
“Are you sure you’re alright darling?” Mettaton asks as he and Papyrus sit on the bed beside you. “Would you like us to stay with you tonight?”  
You shake your head before hugging them both tightly. You tell them that it’s alright now, but thank them for their concern. You promise if you have another nightmare though that you’re going to go spend the rest of the night with them.  
“As long as you’re sure.” Mettaton shares a worried look with a surprisingly quiet Papyrus.  
You nod and grin.  
“BROTHER?” Papyrus looks at Sans. “ARE YOU ALRIGHT?”  
“Heh, yeah.” Sans shakes off his distant look, his eyes lighting at Papyrus’ voice. “Don’t worry about it bro, I’ll take care of the kid.”   
“I WASN’T…” Papyrus seems, for the first time you’d ever seen, lost for words. “I WILL ASK LATER. SLEEP WELL HUMAN! IF THE NIGHTMARES RETURN JUST COME TO ME! THE GREAT PAPYRUS AND METTATON WILL CAST AWWAY ANY NIGHTMARES THAT PLAGUE YOU!”  
You giggle and thank them.   
There’s a tense silence in the room as you and Flowey look at Sans.  
“Kid….” Sans’ voice is very calm. “What was that?”  
You explain that Chara was choking you.  
“Yeah… And?” Sans asks, his eyes going black. “What was that voice?”  
Gaster, you tell him, he’d stopped Chara. You don’t know what he’d said but it worked.  
“He said get back.” Sans’ eyes light narrow pinpricks. “What did he… How did he…” He rubs his head, leaning against your dresser. “Did he go THROUGH me?”  
You nod and tell him that Gaster had told you that he could reach you through him and Papyrus, because their his sons and there’s a connection between parents and children.  
“WHAT?!” Sans’ eyes go wide, his voice furious. “Are you telling me that that bastard can reach THROUGH Papyrus and me?!”  
You nod and grin. You explain that’s how he gives you dreams and why you don’t have nightmares when you sleep over with them.  
“That’s why…” Sans’ voice trails off and his eye begins to glow furiously, flashing between yellow, blue, and white. “You’ve been coming to us… To get to him…”  
You shake your head and try to say that it isn’t true. You’ve honestly been seeking out anyone who could help you, it’s just that Gaster’s been coming to you when you needed help.  
“You’re staying home tomorrow.” Sans snaps, turning towards the door. “Stay in here. I need to make some calls. Wee-Flowey.” His flashing eye turns warningly on the flower. “Keep an eye on them. Wake Frisk up if they start to have another nightmare, got it?”  
Flowey sticks his tongue out at Sans and the skeleton leaves.   
Both you and the flower share anxious looks.  
“So… What are you gonna do?” Flowey asks.  
You think about it. There wasn’t any other option that you could think of. You were going to go see Gaster, today.  
You are filled with DETERMINATION.


	17. Chapter 17

The next morning you wake up and get dressed for school, eager to go. You’d thought of a plan the night before. Over recess you would take Flowey and you’d both slip away and get to the entrance to Mt. Ebbott. There you would make your way to Gaster’s door and ask your friend for his help once in the void. Unfortunately….  
“HUMAN!” Papyrus greets you excitedly as you leave your bedroom, already dressed with your back pack on your back and carrying Flowey. “I HAVE EXCELLENT NEWS! THE KING AND QUEEN CALLED YOUR SCHOOL AND SAID THAT YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GO TODAY SINCE THEY ARE LEAVING FOR THEIR TRIP TODAY!”  
You pause, looking down at Flowey, before plastering a bright smile on your face and saying how great that was. You ask when time their flight is?  
“THE EMBASSY SAID THAT THEY NEED TO BE AT THE AIRPORT NO LATER THAN NOON SO WE WILL BE LEAVING HERE AT TEN TO GET THERE IN TIME!” Papyrus helps you take your backpack off. “METTATON SAID THAT HE HAS AN ADVENTURE FOR US TODAY AS WELL! WE’RE GOING TO GO SEE A SET THAT HE WANTS TO USE FOR A COOKING SHOW!”  
You continue to smile, wondering how you’d get to see Gaster today now? Papyrus leads you out of your bedroom and to the kitchen where everyone is already awake.   
“Oh good, you’re awake.” Asgore grins at you from across the table. “I want to check Flowey’s soil before we go, just to make sure he has everything he needs for healthy root development while we’re at the meeting.”  
You nod and put Flowey’s pot on the table beside your plate.  
Breakfast was toasted pasta cakes with eggs and you do your best to enjoy it. It would be a week or so before Asgore and Toriel would be back and you’d really miss them. But, the benefits of them going now was a little less supervision, Papyrus and Undyne would take over the majority of their responsibilities of overseeing the monsters who were migrating from the Underground, Sans had work, Alphys had her anime, and Mettaton was supposed to leave today as well for some red carpet event and a slew of interviews following their world tour. You just had to get through the day and then you’d be able to slip away.   
You might be able to slip away after supper?  
Asgore takes Flowey who rolls his eyes in annoyance as you look about the kitchen. Toriel is busy pulling two pies from the oven and seems in conversation with Sans, their voices quiet enough that you can’t hear them. Papyrus is gathering the luggage that had been pilled up by the front door and began to load it into the trunk of the stretch limousine out front as Mettaton talks loudly on his cell phone.   
You slip away from the kitchen and back to your room where you pull out your own cell phone and look at the tracking app again. You’re again angered by the fact that your friends had been tracking you. It wasn’t even that they had been tracking you that upset you, it’s the fact that they’d been lying to you about it and that Flowey was right. You really are naïve.  
“But this is what you wanted isn’t it?” Chara’s voice interrupts your thoughts. “To be so loved and cared for, isn’t this a happy ending?”  
You take a deep breath, you won’t panic this time. Not this time.  
You shake your head and tell them that you deserve to be trusted, at least enough to not be lied to.  
“Oh, it’s just cause they care.” Chara giggles. “That’s why they’re controlling everything you do. Everyone you see. Who knows, they’ll eventually control what you think.”  
You say that you’re ignoring them. That you’re going to see Gaster today and he’ll make Chara shut up.  
“I’m truly not worried about that.” Chara drones boredly. “That Comedian is a pain but I think he’s gonna be pretty useful to me this time. He won’t let you see Gaster today, or ever I think. Face it Frisk.” They giggle. “By making everyone love you their going to prevent you from stopping me.”   
You ask what they mean.  
“Well, I’ve been asleep for a while now.” Chara yawns. “A nice, long, nap. Now I’m awake, your last pacifist run really was a bore and I’d thought that I’d sleep until you RESET and then play again. But you didn’t and here I’ve been just dreaming of everything we’d do together. Now that I’m awake though, I’m going to force you to RESET.”  
You shake your head, you’re never going to RESET again. Not when everyone’s finally gotten their happy ending.  
“Oh, I think I know of a way that you will.” Chara giggles again. “Like… If everyone you love turns to dust? Oh, I think you’d RESET very quickly then.”  
Chara’s words make you freeze.   
“You think that I can’t make that happen?” Chara asks. “You’re tired Frisk. You sleep every night. You think I can’t take control when you’re too tired to stop me?” They laugh. “My dreams have been your nightmares. Even in my sleep I can wear you down.”  
Someone knocks at your door and you call just a minute.  
“I’ll wear you down until you’re too exhausted to do anything but sleep.” Chara hisses, you can feel their hands resting lightly on your shoulders. “And then? Then I’ll take control and you’ll wake up to a world of dust. What will you do then?” Chara laughs. “Flowey’s right, the game is only going to continue. Even if you figure out a way to choose a different save file and don’t completely RESET I’ll still come back. You’ll just be biding your time until I wake up again. The game is just going to keep playing.”  
You grip your phone tightly in your hand and bite your tongue. You’re not going to cry, you refuse to.  
You are DETERMINED to stop Chara.  
“My child?”   
You whip around, startled by another voice from Chara’s.  
Toriel is standing in your doorway with a concerned expression.   
“Are you alright?” Toriel asks,, her brows together in concern.  
You nod and smile brightly at her, pocketing your phone and hurrying up to her.  
“We need to get going soon.” Toriel rests her hand on your head and pets your hair back. “Will you be alright with Asgore and I gone for so long?”  
You tell her that you’ll be alright and you have your dunkles if you need anything. You puff out your chest and try to look tough before telling her that you’re a big kid and can handle anything that comes at you.  
“You certainly can.” Toriel chuckles, taking your hand and leading you into the hall. “But I would like it if you’d rely a little more on us, at least until your nightmares go away.” She glances down at you, her eyes concerned. “Frisk… I won’t lie to you… I’m worried about you. These nightmares… And you rarely ask for help. You know that we’re here for you, all of us, don’t you?”  
You nod and tell her you know. You resist the urge to call her a liar and tell her that you know that her and everyone else has been lying to you. Smiling brightly you promise that you’ll do better about asking for help.  
“I’m glad.” Toriel hugs you tightly. “Well, come, we shouldn’t be late for our flights…”  
Mettaton had arranged for everyone to ride in a limo to the airport and you sit quietly between Asgore and Toriel, holding Flowey, on the ride. At the airport tThere’s a lot of people in black suits around as you follow your adoptive parents through security with your family. Despite the fact that he hadn’t said anything to you all morning Sans stays close to you, in fact your entire family seems to close in around you.  
Asgore and Toriel board their flight without any trouble and your friends don’t hesitate getting out of the crowding airport as fast as possible. Once back in Mettaton’s limo you ask Sans if he has work that day?   
“Nah, called off.” Sans says, stretching across one of the seats and pulling his hood up to cover his eyes. “Need to catch up on my naps. They’re cool with it.”   
You nod and exchange glances with Flowey. Chara’s taunts from earlier echo in your head and you wonder how right they were?   
You ask Mettaton if you can go home?  
“Don’t you want to come see the set of the cooking show that Pappy and I are going to be airing in a few weeks?” Mettaton asks you.  
You shake your head and tell them that you’re tired and would like to nap too.  
“Oh, pour dear.” Mettaton gently pats your head. “Of course we’ll take you home. Pappy, I suppose it’ll just be you and I.” Mettaton smiles at you before turning to the driver and telling them to take you back home.  
You exchange goodbyes with Mettaton, hugging the robot tightly and promising to see them at the winter concern in a few weeks, Sans, unsurprisingly, opts to stay home with you and you both wave as the limo pulls away.  
“Want anything for lunch?” Sans asks as he follows you and Flowey into the house.  
You shake your head and tell him you’re just going to go nap in your room.  
“Alright.” Sans shrugs, heading towards the kitchen. “I’ll check on you in a bit.”  
You nod and head upstairs with Flowey. As soon as the door’s closed you ask Flowey if Asgore said anything to him that morning.  
“Only that he wants me to keep a close eye on you and that if anything funny goes on to tell trashbag or loudmouth.” Flowey says grumpily.  
You sigh and say that you don’t know what to do… If you leave the house everyone will know because of your phone. If you turn off the app they’ll know. If you leave your phone behind Sans will find out when he comes to check on you.   
“What if…” Flowey says in deep thought. “What if we can get your phone going another direction? Send it the wrong way?”  
You think about it and flip through the settings and apps on your phone. That might work but how?   
“I don’t know, and I definitely don’t want to play hide and seek with trashbag.” Flowey grumbles. “Can’t you call someone or throw your phone off a cliff or something?”  
You shake your head, putting Flowey on the bedside table, and flopping back on the bed. You didn’t know what to do.  
Someone knocked on the door and you roll over, looking tiredly at the door.  
“You asleep kiddo?” The door cracked open and Sans glances in.   
You moan sleepily and the door opens all the way.  
“I know you said you weren’t hungry.” Sans came into the room, a plate with a sandwich on it in his hand. “Thought I’d bring you something anyway. Just ham and mustered, nothing fancy.”  
You giggle and thank him for the “sans-wich”.  
“Heh, good one.” Sans winks at you and puts it on the bedside table next to Flowey. “How ya feeling?”  
You remain laying down and shrug. Tired, you tell him.   
“Yeah,” He reaches out like he’s going to ruffle your hair, like he’d done a hundred times before, but stops short and pulls his hand back. “So... I’ll be in the living room if you need anything.”  
You nod and smile.  
For a moment, a brief second, you think about asking Sans for help. You think about telling him how Chara had spoken to you. How you hated having to try to hide what was going on from him. How you wanted help… How you needed help…  
“Sleep tight kid.” Sans winks at you before closing the door. “I’ll be back in a bit.”   
You nod and burry your face into the pillow.  
Sleep for the first time in months comes easily. Just the sweet, velvety, darkness that wraps around you.   
“Frisk? What’re you doing?” Flowey’s voice echoes through to you.  
You drift deeper into the darkness.  
“Hey kid, you’re awake.” Sans’ voice drifts through the darkeness. “What’s up?”  
You roll into the dark, relishing the warmth of sleep.  
Something shinks, hisses, and foot steps follow.  
“Kid? What’re you doin?” Sans’ voice was confused the next time it echoes through the darkness.  
A twisted, familiar, giggle reaches you.   
Something’s wrong.  
“Wanna play a game with me?” A giggle reaches you. “Come outside Comedian.”


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter...  
> Stay tuned! There's more!

The kitchen knife fit strangely well into your small hand. The afternoon was bright and sunny, the autumn wind harsh and cold. But still it was a beautiful day.   
You’re blue, held immobile by Sans’ magic. You’d gone from the safety and warmth of your bed to outside, the only warning you’d had was Chara’s laughter.   
“I don’t want to hurt you kid.” Sans was breathing heavily, his eye flashing brightly, as he holds you tightly trapped in his blue magic. “Chara, Frisk, WHOEVER you are! Just talk to me. Tell me what you need and I’ll help you.”   
You look up confusedly at him. You ask what’s going on? Why did you have a knife? Why did he look so tired?   
“Frisk?” Sans is startled before his eyes narrow suspiciously. “Drop the knife kid.”  
You let go of the knife and it falls harmlessly into the grass. What’s going on, you ask again.  
“I want to ask you the same thing.” Sans takes a deep breath and slowly lowers you to the grass. “But… I think I’m figuring it out now…”   
The moment your feet touch the ground and you’re released from the blue magic your body lunges for the knife.  
“StUpId CoMeDiAn!” Chara’s voice cackles from your throat as they grab the knife and charges at Sans.  
Sans narrowly dodges the blade before flinging you back across the lawn away from him.  
Inside your own mind you watch as Chara relentlessly attacks Sans, the all too familiar fight sequence coming up.  
“You’re Chara.” Sans says calmly after dodging one of their attacks.   
“So kind of you to remember.” Chara giggles sweetly. “What gave it away?”  
“How you fight.” Sans grins, his eyes narrow. “Just like all those times in the Judgement Hall.”  
“Don’t give me all the credit.” Chara’s laugh makes your blood run cold. “Frisk always helped me. They took every blow you ever dealt us. Leaving me free to KILL you.”  
Sans traps your body in blue, holding you immobile in the air.   
“I didn’t think that they were lying…” Sans chuckles darkly. “I just wasn’t sure how much of what they’d been telling me was true… So, care to enlighten me?”  
“Oh, Frisky’s just a little naïve fool.” Chara sighs with a twisted smile. “When they fell to the Undergound they were full of so much hatred and anger that I was immediately drawn to them. Those first runs were delightful, wouldn’t you agree? Just killing more and more! Killing everyone and anyone that we could find! All because they were a stupid, upset, little kid. They’re just too easy to work over.”   
“So, lemme get this straight…” Sans asks calmly. “Kid falls into the Underground. They’re upset because some bad stuff happened to them. You help them slaughter every monster in existence and then? What?”  
“We do it again!” Chara laughs. “Again and again and again!”   
Sans’ eyes grow large, startled by Chara’s hysterical outburst, and then they go black. He begins to chuckle now.  
“And...” Sans’ eyes are still black. “When they refused?”  
His turn ends and Chara slams the FIGHT button.  
They charge at Sans furiously swinging the knife.  
“I mAkE tHeM!” Chara’s words burn your throat, their voice making your own vocal cords cry out in protest. “I’lL aLwAyS MaKe ThEm! ThEy’Ll NeVeR bE fReE oF mE!”   
Sans dodges then teleports behind you and traps you in blue again.  
“I think they’ve refused to do what you want for a while now.” Sans hisses in your ear to Chara. “I think that they’re stronger than you. They’re more DETERMINED than you aren’t they?”  
Chara lashes out, or tries to, struggling in the blue.  
“AnYtHiNg YoU dO tO Me ThEy’Ll SuFfEr As WeLl.” Chara cackles manically. “Do It! HuRt Us! MaKe ThEm SuFfEr!”   
“Nah, I’m good.” Sans shrugs as he casually walks around you and faces you head on. “I think that the kiddo’s just tired, so I’ll hold you still for a while so that they can rest up and then put you back in whatever place they’ve kept you in.” His grin widens and his eye flashes. “Then, once you’re put away we’ll find a way to get rid of you for good, brat.”  
Chara growls angrily at him and you sigh in relief in your own mind.   
Sans was buying you time. He wouldn’t let you or Chara hurt anyone else.   
But what could you do?  
“Come on kid, I know you’re in there.” Sans says, his eyes boring into yours. “You’re stronger than this blood thirsty brat. I know you are.”   
You wish with all your heart and soul that it was true but…  
“They’re not.” Chara giggles, their voice mimicking yours. “They know they’re not. That’s why I always had to finish you all off. Because your little Frisk is too weak to do it themselves.”  
“I wasn’t talking to you.” Sans snaps. “Be a good brat and shut it.”   
His blue magic tightens around you and your mouth snaps shut.  
“That’s better.” Sans chuckles before his smile softens and he meets your eyes again. “Come on Frisk, I know you’re in there. Fight them. I’m here for you. Don’t worry about anything else just come back to us…” His eye glows brightly, the blue magic holding you completely immobile, and his hand rests on your shoulder. “Come on kid, Paps will be home soon and how am I supposed to explain to him that the sweetest kid in the world turned into a murderous demon? Last I checked you’re not a teenager yet.” He winks at you.  
Inside your head Chara’s livid and you try to take control again.  
You try to fight, but Chara’s stronger.  
You plead Chara to just let you take control.   
You beg them to let you out.  
You ask to be let go.  
“You know what?” Chara giggles in your mind. “Sure, go ahead, have a turn.”   
Relief floods you as you feel your body come back under your control.  
Your eyes blink rapidly and you look around uncertainly.  
“Kid?” A skeletal hand guides your face to look up at Sans, his left eye glowing brightly. “Frisk? You there buddy?”   
You nod quietly and tell him that you can’t feel Chara anymore.  
You let go of the knife in your hand and it falls to the grass.  
“Thank goodness.” Sans sighs, the blue magic around you going away and the skeleton catching you in his arms. “Jeez, kid, stop scaring me.”  
Your eyes fill with relieved tears and you cling tightly to him. You couldn’t sense Chara anymore.   
Had they really left you alone?  
Were they really gone?  
“It’s alright,” Sans squeezes you tightly before setting you on the ground. “We’re going to work this out. I’m going to call Alphys, we’re going to figure this out right now. Alright?”  
You nod and wipe your eyes on your sleeves as Sans pulls out his cellphone.  
“Hey, Alphys, you free right now?” Sans begins to talk on the phone, glancing at you every few seconds. “Yeah I need your help… The kiddo and I need your help… Now… Okay…”  
You begin to relax and sink to your knees. Your eyes close tiredly and you gratefully breathe in the autumn air.  
The knife was suddenly back in your hand and Chara giggles in your mind.  
Before they can you reach for the fight button, cutting them off in the process before they could strike it and hit Sans.  
You raise the knife up and-  
“Frisk no!“ Sans’ surprised voice is the last thing you hear before the critical hit.  
-99999  
 


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> But WAIT!   
> There's more!   
> (To Come....)

“Reset Frisk!” The pain’s unbearable. “Just reset! Come on buddy, reset! Please... It’s okay… I’m ready to go back. I’ll help you… I promise I’ll help you this time…”  
The world around you was dark. You felt so small, so weak, so frail. But you’re not in pain any more. Gradually you realize that you’re not laying in the grass anymore. You can’t feel Sans’ arms shaking you and you can’t hear him anymore. You wonder where you are?  
Something, a presence, urges you to open your eyes so you do. You’re a soul. A small, little, red, soul that has fractures in several places. There’s something nearby, another soul?  
You drift around, looking for the other presence. What you find makes your soul pause. It was a heart, a human soul, desperately throwing itself at a series of buttons. But something’s wrong…  
The soul, it was just the faintest of outlines with no color. Nothing made it stand out from the dark and you wonder how you can even see it? But it’s there, desperately trying to make the panel work for itself.  
You move closer and you can read the panel. From left to right it read: CONTINUE, SAVE FILE, RESET.  
The CONINTUE button was grey and lifeless. The hollow soul was desperately trying to hit the reset button but it’s presses do nothing. Each time the hollow soul touches the button it goes grey and lifeless like the CONTINUE button.  
You drift to the hollow soul, wondering what you could do?  
This was all so familiar… But different.  
This wasn’t how it had been in the Underground…  
Could that be because you’re no longer in the Underground?  
Nervously you drift to the SAVE FILE button as the hollow soul continues to slam itself against the RESET button.  
Gently tapping the SAVE FILE button a massive screens pops in front of you. To the right is a navigation bar and inside are a series of files all labelled with the name “DETERMINATION”.  
You scroll through them and are perplexed. This wasn’t at all how it had been in the Underground. What was going on? Was this a dream? You look back and see the hollow soul still trying to hit the RESET button.  
You feel your soul dim a little bit. These files…  
You float over the most recent file: DETERMINATION FILE 1- NEW HOME RESERVATION, NEW HOME- TO SEE GASTER. The file comes up and you see yourself, laying on the bed in your room with Flowey beside you. This had been last night, when you’d decided to see Gaster!  
You select the file and the file wraps around you.  
“What the?” Flowey looks around the room bewildered. “What did you do Frisk?!”  
You sit up, the light was on. You could hear people downstairs in the kitchen. Staring at your hands you begin to tremble.  
“What have you done?!” Chara’s voice is furious as your door slams open.  
Sans is in the doorway, his eyes wide and panting. He stares at you as though he were staring at a nightmare.  
“Wh-wh-“ The skeleton seems lost for words as he stares at you and you see that his skull had beads of sweat on it. “What just.. You…”  
You rub your head as you shake it. You didn’t understand either, what was going on? What’d you do?  
“YOU IDIOT!” Chara screams in your mind and the room warps around you.  
You’re body lunges off the bed towards Sans and the skeleton dodges. It was a farce and you’re immediately on your feet and running out of the room and full speed.  
Sans appears in the doorway to the kitchen, his eye flashing warningly.  
“Stop!” Sans snaps, catching you in blue as Chara screams angrily, his eye flashing rapidly.  
“What’s going on?!” Toriel asks anxiously as she and Asgore appear behind Sans in the kitchen.  
“The kid isn’t themselves right now.” Sans explains as Chara struggles against the blue furiously.  
“Mom!” Chara cries out with your voice. “Dad! Help me! Sans is scaring me! I want down!”  
“Sans, let them go.” Asgore says, resting a hand on his shoulder. “You should go rest, we can handle it from here.”  
“You don’t understand.” Sans refuses as Toriel pushes past him. “They’re not themselves, they’re dangerous!”  
“Asgore’s right Sans, let my child go.” Toriel snaps at him, gently holding you as your body is trapped in the blue magic.  
You cry out inside as the blue magic that had been holding your body immobile fades away and your body falls into Toriel’s arms. Your mouth twists into a triumphant grin as your eyes focus on Sans while your arms wrap tightly around Toriel’s neck.  
“I was so scared mom.” Your voice cries softly into her neck. “I thought it was a nightmare and then Sans started chasing me! I don’t want to get hurt.”  
“I’ve got you my child, it’s alright.” Toriel sooths as Asgore moves around Sans and tries to comfort you as well.  
You struggle inside your own body, trying desperately to regain control from Chara.  
“Sans you should rest, we can handle this from here.” Toriel tells the skeleton.  
“I-” Sans begins, his eye dimming from it’s rapid flashing to the round white lights they normally were.  
“Sans.” Toriel’s voice leaves no room for argument. “You’ve been very helpful but Frisk is our child, Asgore and I will handle this.” She gestures to the hall that lead to the bedrooms as Asgore lifted you from her. “You can go.”  
Sans’ eyes go black.  
“Is this an order or a suggestion?” Sans asks softly. “Are you my Queen or my friend?”  
“I’m Frisk’s mother.” Toriel replies firmly. “Please, Sans.”  
Chara’s glee as Sans silently teleports from the room is a thick miasma around you in your own mind.  
“Thank you,” Chara again uses your voice as they cuddle under Asgore’s fuzzy chin. “He really scared me dad.”  
“Its alright partner.” Asgore comforts you., “Come, we’ve tea and some cookies that Toriel made.”  
A soft giggle escapes your lips as Asgore let’s you down.  
Chara smiles sweetly with your lips and enjoys the tea and cookies that, in the previous timeline, Toriel and Asgore had brought to your room and you’d enjoyed with them.  
“Do you think I could take a bath before I go back to bed?” Chara asks them with a bright smile. “I feel nice after a bath and I think that’ll help me fall asleep again.”  
“Of course my child.” Toriel smiles at you and inside your mind you beg Chara not to hurt them.  
As Toriel goes to run a bath Chara looks at Asgore, you can feel your face fall a bit.  
“Do you think you could talk to Flowey?” Chara makes your voice sound sad. “He’s really upset about hitting me so hard and I know he really likes talking to you.”  
“Sure.” Asgore gives you a warm smile. “Would you like to come with me?”  
You head shakes from side to side and your smile returns.  
“I’m gonna go take that bath.” Chara says sweetly, getting up from the chair and taking the mug and plate from the table. “After I put these in the sink.”  
“You’re a good child Frisk.” Asgore pats your head gently before turning to the door.  
The minute, second even, that Asgore was gone from the kitchen Chara went to the knife block.  
“This one’s my favorite honestly.” Chara explains to you, pulling out the chef knife from it. “It has a good weight, multi purposed, but I think that a back up might be necessary this time.”  
At that they also pull out the little pairing knife and tuck it neatly in the pocket of your pajamas.  
“Just in case.” Chara giggles at you.  
You beg Chara not to hurt anyone. You ask them what they want? How can you make them stop?  
“Well, you could play with me again.” Chara giggles as they turn towards the door that lead to the back yard. “That’d certainly make this more fun. Though, I have to admit, you surprised me that last time. Choosing to FIGHT and then dealing damage to yourself. Very interesting, definitely new.” Chara goes out into the cold night, your breath white little puffs against the frigid air. “I wonder, you’re actually surprisingly tolerant of damage and pain. How many more times can you stand dealing damage to yourself to protect your friends before you give in and let me have my fun?”  
You feel yourself freeze in your own head as Chara goes towards the gate.  
“HUMAN?” Papyrus’ voice makes your heart drop as he and Mettaton both lean out his window looking down at you confusedly. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”  
Chara’s giggle nearly sent you into a panic in your own mind as they slowly turn you to face them.  
“I’m leaving.” Chara’s words were chilling. “Forever, bye bye!”  
“WHAT?!” Both Mettaton and Papyrus react immediately.  
You beg Chara to stop in your mind.  
“I’ll be nice.” Chara fingers the chef knife tenderly in your hand. “You can have a turn, go ahead, do what you want.”  
Your suddenly in control of your own body again and your first instinct is to run.  
You shove the gate open and run into the street.  
Even barefoot, even the hard road underfoot, the cold air chilling you to the bone, you run as hard as you can. You throw the chef knife as far away from you, it skidding safely across the asphalt, as you run. At least the weapon was gone.  
“Gotcha.” Something blue flashes just in front of you and a pair of arms wrap tightly around you. “Not this time bucko.”  
You panic and struggle as you hear your friends down the road.  
You beg Sans to let you go or he, everyone, will be in danger. You just have to get to Gaster you tell him and swear you’ll come back.  
“You’re as much a danger to yourself as you are to everyone else at this point.” Sans’ eye flashes and you’re trapped in blue magic. “After what you did the last time...”  
You want to yell at him, warn him, but it’s no good.  
“I know, they surprised me too.” Chara giggles from your throat. “Frisk is just full of surprises, don’t you think comedian?”  
Sans freezes at Chara’s words, his eyes going wide as Papyrus runs up the road towards them.  
“Oh, I can’t wait to turn him to dust again.” Chara says softly, their voice full of anticipation. “Do you think he still believes in me? Because I do.”  
The world around you flashes and you’re back home in Sans’ room, the skeleton slamming you against the wall with his blue magic. Something sharp makes you gasp and your leg begins to feel warm and wet as you groan on the ground.  
“Alright, BRAT, talk.” Sans demands, trapping you in blue and holding you immobile on the floor. “Why are you doing this?! Why are you so set on killing everyone?! Why Frisk?! Because they were the first human you could get ahold of?!”  
“BeCaUsE iTs FuN.” Chara cackles back at him. “ThIs Is AlL a GaMe.”  
“This is our lives!” Sans snaps at Chara, the blue becoming heavy as your HP bar appears at 15/20. “Do you enjoy tormenting us?! Making us relive the same pain over and over again?!”  
“YeS!” Chara laughs as your HP drops to 14/20.  
Sans angrily slams you against another wall with blue and you cry out in pain.  
Your HP drops to 9/20.  
“ThE oNlY PeRsOn YoU’rE hUrTiNg Is YoUr PrEcIoUs FrIsK.” Chara laughs softy as your body begins to shake uncontrollably.  
Sans freezes and his eyes fall to the blood spreading across your pajama bottoms.  
“What have you done?” Sans asks, his eyes going wide.  
“NoT wHaT I’Ve DoNe…” Chara laughs, rolling onto your back. “YoU dId ThIs.”  
You’re suddenly back in control of your body and tears pour from your eyes. Your leg is hurting so much, the blood coming quickly.  
You reach into your Pajama bottoms and feel the knife that Chara had tucked there.  
You look up at Sans who inches towards you cautiously and for the first time you realize that he looks lost. He doesn’t know how to help you. He can’t help you.  
No one here can help you, no matter how much you need them to.  
You ask him as your HP continues to drain, 8/20, to take you to Gaster.  
“H-He’s not…” Sans shakes his head. “Gaster can’t… Your health!” Something snaps Sans’ attention to your HP bar as it pings to 7/20. “Hang on, I’ve got items!”  
Your chest clenches as Sans runs to his desk and pulls the drawers out. You feel numb as you clench the knife and pull it out of your leg.  
You really hope that this would work a second time.  
“NO!”  
-99999


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Always choose the flirt option when it's available.

This time you’re ready for the darkness. Your soul moves slower this time, two large fractures visible and dividing your soul into three pieces visible and aching painfully. But your soul is not broken, it’s not shattered, and you are DETERMINED to end this.   
The hollow soul is still bashing itself against the RESET button as you find the panel of three. You rush to the SAFE FILE button and open it.  
You search the files, remembering the time that you’re trying to find. After scrolling down near the earliest SAVE files you find it.  
33) DETERMINATION FILE- MT. EBBOTT- GASTER’S QUEST  
You open the file and dive into it.

You have so much energy. You are more DETERMINED than you have been in months.  
You’re standing with your cell phone in your hand. The phone had just ended the call with Alphys. You’re in Waterfall, Gaster’s door to your right.  
“Uh, Frisk?” Flowey stares at you from the ground with a bewildered expression. “You… You RESET?”  
Yes you tell Flowey as you pull out a water bottle from your backpack and before strapping it on your back. You kneel to the ground and let him climb up onto your back.   
“What the heck’s going on?” Flowey snaps at you. “I thought you said you’d never RESET again?”  
You shake your head, certain that Chara would be coming soon, and tell him that you need him to come with you back into the void to see Gaster.   
“Yeah, fine.” Flowey is still confused but agrees. “What’s going on?”  
Your phone buzzes as you guzzle the water and you check it.

STAY WHERE YOU ARE.  
-Sans  
You drop the phone on the ground like it had burned you and, just as you yank open the grey door, a flash of blue light lightens the hall.   
The bright room disorients you but you don’t give it long enough to make you fall. Flowey’s voice is a din as he yells about the light before he sees the melting form of this universe’s Gaster.   
You run head first towards the melting form of Gaster and away from the door. Just as a pair of bodiless hands grab you and pull both you and Flowey into the darkness the door behind you opens.  
Again you’re drifting through the darkness of the void. You knew it was strange…   
In this timeline you had literally JUST been here. But it felt like it had been so long since you’d been here. You feel comforted as the bodiless hands rush to greet you and grab you. You’re pulled rapidly to the black platform.  
“WHAT THE HECK IS THIS?!” Flowey seems panicked as the bodiless hands guide you through the darkness. “WHERE ARE WE?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! WHY ARE YOU SMILING FRISK?! WHAT THE HECK?!”  
You can’t help but let out a soft laugh, relief floods you as the tall form of Gaster appears on the platform as your feet land there.  
“You’re alright.” Gaster kneels before you as his bodiless and the two hands attached to his body glow, scanning you. “The timelines are fracturing at an alarming rate. I’ve been trying to intervene where I can but the anomaly becomes aware the more I intervene.”  
You nod and tell him you know, and that you know where Chara is.   
“WHAT?!” Flowey looks at you like you’ve grown a second head. “WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU’VE FOUND CHARA?!”  
You nod as a noise dins softly through the darkness. You tell Gaster that they’re still in you, in your head or somehow inside you you’re not sure, and that they’d tried to hurt your family in previous timelines.  
“I’m aware.” Gaster’s broken voice is grave before his face goes icy. “You were very foolish! There’s no guarantee that self-termination would have the dynamic outcome that you’ve relied on!”   
You stare up at him blankly for a minute before bursting out into giggles.  
“This is no laughing matter.” Gaster sternly lectures you as the floating hands gingerly remove Flowey and your backpack from your back. “Flowey, please make yourself comfortable where you would like. Child.” His dark eyes assess you. “I need to run some tests.” A table, much like the operating tables that you had seen in Alphys’ true lab, materializes next to him on the platform. “Come.”  
You hesitate, suddenly nervous. You ask Gaster if it’s going to hurt?  
“Of course not.” Gaster says, kneeling before you and picking you up as Flowey timidly climbs back onto your shoulder. “If I had intended to harm you then your soul would have been shattered long ago. I need to run some tests to find out if Chara is with you now and, assuming your assertions are correct, how they are hiding from me. I should be able to sense their presence here but I cannot.”  
You nod and glance back at Flowey who shakes his head uncertainly.  
“I dunno.” Flowey says at your questioning look. “Are you going to hurt Chara?”  
“My intent is to extract them and then find a way to contain their desires to continuously slaughter the timelines.” Gaster explains patiently, setting you the operating table. “Now, lay your head back.”   
You obey, two of the bodiless hands coming to cradle the back of your head as you lay back. Flowey moves off your shoulder, his vines wrapping around the leg of the table as he watches curiously.   
“I’m just going to examine your soul.” Gaster explains calmly. “It should not hurt and I will not be extracting it. Tell me if you experience severe discomfort though.”   
You nod nervously and stare up into the dark void all around. Your soul floating, drifting to the very surface of your chest was a strange sensation but it didn’t hurt, it just wasn’t pleasant. Your soul rested half inside your body, the other hand protruding just on the surface. Looking down you see the little red heart slightly raised from your chest.  
“Hmmm….” Gaster’s hand floats fractions above your heart glowing a gentle white light. “Self termination has left two fractures in your soul.” A panel appears next to your head and you glance over with your eyes. “Just a read out of your status.” Gaster says, taking the panel as though it were a clipboard and reading it. “Health is stable, reduced to 15/20 but that can be remedied.” As he speaks you feel the hands cradling your head begin to warm and you feel a strange sensation work it’s way through your body. “Better, 20/20, full health. These fractures in your soul though are concerning.” A bodiless hand gently rests on your soul and you shudder, the sensation of something touching your soul making you spasm. A gentle golden glow lights from the hand and you try to stay still. The same, warm, feeling swallows you and your eyes slip closed tiredly. “Healing magic doesn’t seem to work on human souls… Strange…” Gaster sighs as your eyes remain closed, a hand pushes your hair back from your face. “Good they’re resting.”  
“What’re you going to do?” Flowey asks.  
“I’m going to try to find Chara in them.” Gaster explains calmly. “If I can, extract them, and then send you both on your way before Sans can find us.”   
“What’s trashbag got to do with all this?” Flowey sneers. “He’s miles away.”   
“He entered the void shortly after you did.” Gaster says. “He’s lost right now but he knows how to track souls. Now be quiet, I can only do this while the child is at ease.”  
You’re distracted by Flowey’s grumbles just before a nauseating feeling washes over you. The void warps around you, even more than it usually did, and you feel sick. Your stomach revolts and you’re afraid you’re going to vomit. It feels like worms are wriggling through your head, your stomach, everything. You try to sit up, feeling like you’re going to wretch, but Gaster’s hand on your forehead keeps you still.   
“I’m almost done…” Gaster’s calm, broken, voice helps you relax. “I need you too think about them Frisk. Think about Chara. I know it’s hard but bring them forward for me to see. They’re hiding very well.”  
You shake your head, afraid.  
“Don’t be afraid. I am here.” Gaster assures you, his voice strangely monotone. “Chara has never faced me. If I must I will use my final form to contain them.”   
Final form, you ask, isn’t this his form?  
“No.” Gaster’s chuckle sounds strange but in it’s way it reminds you of Papyrus and Sans’ laugh. “No one in any of the timelines have seen my final form. Do not fret child. Just bring them to the surface and I will take care of it from there.”  
You take a deep breath and think about Chara. You start at the beginning.  
The fall… Running through the woods, away from the orphanage. They’d been teasing you again, the other kids, calling a drug baby. Calling your parents junkies and addicts. Saying that they were stupid and that you’re only alive because they’d been too high to not have you. The taunting, late night whispers, as you’d lain in bed had finally been too much.   
You’d known that if they caught you that you’d be in trouble. The house mother would scream at you until you cried and the house father would spank you. After all that you would just be put back with the other kids who’d continue to make fun of you. You just wanted to run, run away from it all, escape.  
Then… You’d fallen down into the Underground. Flowey had been the first monster you’d met but, after meeting him, you hadn’t been alone.   
“It’s kill or be killed.” Those words had stuck with you as you’d made it through the Underground.  
After all you had known in your short life it had only made sense.   
The killing, at first, was hard. You couldn’t bring yourself to make the final blows. You’d always hesitated. But something had helped you. Your body would move without your own thoughts and make the final blows.   
The fights had grown easier. Dodging became boring, every attack thrown at you predictable, and the monsters’ desperation thickened the air. The Underground grew darker the deeper you went. The monsters became faceless. Their struggles became your demons that you were intent to end. Your body had moved on it’s own as you’d fought Mettaton and you’d decided to take the final blow yourself and, together, you and the force pushing you onward took the final steps to end him. Sans had been your very first on your own.   
He’d been a nightmare, everything about those fights had been harshly real. You’d died so many times but your body pushed on, the RESETs happened instantaneously and your body kept moving and dodging.  
Chara may have fought him, but you had taken the killing strike against him. You’d relished finally killing him, finally ending him after all the pain he’d put you through. Your thoughts had been so dark.   
You’d intended to go to the surface with your new found abilities and make all those up there suffer for what they’d done to you. Just as you’d made the monsters down here suffer. You’d slaughter every human in the Aboveground too.   
But… You’d completely lost control by that point. As you’d stood over the dust that had been Asgore and Flowey you’d first met them. You’d first heard their voice, first spoken to them, finally realized what you had done…   
“Found you…” Gaster’s soft voice startles you out of your thoughts. “Their hiding just inside your soul… Using your soul as camouflage.”   
You open your eyes and look up at Gaster who’s expression was flat then over at Flowey.  
“Soooooo….” Flowey looks between you both. “What now?”  
Gaster pulls up a panel beside him that instantaneously fills with words in his strange language as you sit up.  
“I believe that they can be safely extracted…” Gaster says thoughtfully. “What remains of Chara is the husk of their soul. When Prince Asriel absorbed their soul Chara took on certain elements of the monster soul just as Prince Asriel took on their DT.” He gives you an assessing look before turning back to the panel. “When a human and monster become one, through absorbtion, each soul takes on certain characteristics of the other. Human souls are often infused with their DT which is why Chara was so powerful. Fused with Asriel they became, at least in part, a soul of both magic and DT as the Prince himself had. When the Prince died though Chara and Asriel should have both died. But we know by your and Chara’s persisted existence that was not the case.” Gaster now looks at Flowey who’s face and petals drain of color. “I believe that, based on your ability to control the timelines before Frisk fell to the Underground, that your soul only persisted because of the DT that your soul absorbed from Chara’s soul. Just as you persisted from the DT that you’d absorbed, Chara’s soul persisted because of the magic that they had absorbed from your soul. You are not able to empathize or feel as you once did, because all your soul is now is the little but of DT that you possess. Chara’s soul is only the fragments of magic that they’d taken from you. But a human’s soul is almost entirely comprised of their DT. So what remains now is the magic and that’s why they constantly sought out the humans who fell down here. Their soul is seeking DT to become whole again…”   
Gaster pauses, drawing up another panel and looking at it.  
“Flowey, I don’t know how much you remember, but when you were Asriel and had devoured Chara’s soul.” Gaster looks at the flower and you can tell that your friend was growing increasingly uncomfortably. “The last thing that you can remember… What is it?”  
“I don’t know!” Flowey finally snaps. “What does it matter?!”  
“Because if the part of Chara that survives is the part that had been dying with Asriel as the humans had attacked you then that could explain their penchant for murdering every living thing.” Gaster levels his head with Flowey, staring at the flower dryly. “Which means that I can attempt to correct this and allow their soul to go in peace and let the world be.”  
Flowey balks at Gaster momentarily before shaking his head.  
“I don’t know.” The flower mumbles. “I don’t remember much of being Asriel.”  
“Pity.” Gaster sighs, straightening himself before turning his attention onto you then. “I should be able to extract them with only moderate discomfort on your part. Are you ready?”  
Now, you pale and ask nervously how he’s going to do that?  
“Their soul is just inside of your own, it isn’t deeply embedded at this time.” Gaster explains, guiding you to lay back down. “So, I will make a minor incision and pull them out. I’ll keep you stable with magic and also keep you asleep. You’ll be more comfortable that way and I won’t have to worry about you moving.” He smiles gently, reassuringly. “I’ll give you warm dreams to play in while I do it. You won’t suffer anymore Frisk.”   
You feel nervous and glance at Flowey. You ask him if he’ll stay with you?  
“Does it look like I can exactly go anywhere else right now?!” Flowey snaps at you. “Jeez, you are an idiot! Yes I’m staying here!”  
You giggle and then look back at Gaster, you give him a short nod.  
“Just close your eyes.” Gaster’s broken voice is soothing as a distant din echoes through the void. “Let the dreams come forward.”  
You close your eyes and feel the warm glow of Gaster’s hands on the back of your head.   
Just as the hot sun of summer beats upon your shoulders and you see your friends playing on a sandy beach ahead of you…  
“GET AWAY FROM MY KID!”   
You’re snatched from the table as Flowey yells. There’s a crash and you can hear tiles breaking. You open your eyes and see the spot where the operating table had been was demolished. Smoke rises from the wreckage and the platform is scorched. Sans stands where there had once been a table, his eye flashing violently, his face full of rage as he glares at Gaster.   
“Ah, Sans.” Gaster greets him calmly as you look around bewildered. Flowey had his vines coiled around your right arm and you were held by one of Gaster’s arms against him. “You’re much faster than I thought you’d be. I’d assumed we’d have another seven minutes and eighteen seconds before you found this place.”   
“Let go of my kid Gaster.” Sans says, his voice surprisingly calm.   
“Of course.” Gaster says. “Just after I finish extracting the soul from them. It should only take a few minutes, less if you’d assist me.”   
You pale at the look Sans gives him. You quickly try to explain that Gaster was trying to get Chara’s soul out of yours.   
But the smaller skeleton’s eye flashes before you can explain fully and bones rise from the tiles like spears.  
“STOP IT TRASHBAG!” Flowey snaps as Gaster dodges, the flower almost getting impaled as the bones begin to rain from above. “YOU’RE GOING TO HIT US TOO!”  
The flower shoots off his “Friendliness Pellets” at Sans but he teleports out of the way, reappearing behind Gaster.  
All three of you go blue and Gaster is flung over the edge of the platform as you and Flowey are left floating.  
“Are you alright?” Sans asks, as he lowers you to the ground. “Are you hurt?”  
You shake your head and Sans sighs, a smile coming to his face.   
“Good.” Sans crushes you to his chest. “Damn it kid, what were you thinking coming here? He’s dangerous, why don’t you believe me?”  
You try to argue but Sans face becomes icy, his grin chilling, as he looks around.  
“You’ll explain it to me later.” Sans says, his eye flashing as he looks around. “We have to get out of here, he’s coming back.”  
You look around as well, wondering how Sans knew that Gaster was coming back? Hadn’t he literally just thrown his own father off the platform?  
“Sans.” Gaster’s voice startles all three of you as his dark form reforms behind the smaller skeleton. “Throwing your father off a platform is not polite.”   
Sans turns around and tries to catch Gaster in blue but instead catches one of the bodiless hands.  
“I’ve no intentions of harming the human Sans.” Gaster explains calmly, waving his hands and the operating table rematerializing just beside him. “Come, you can assist me. Just lay them on the table and we can resume.”   
“You’re not laying one disembodied finger on them.” Sans retorts as he summons a slew of bones in the air with one hand, keeping you crushed to his torso with the other.   
“Sans, you’re not thinking logically.” Gaster sighs, in a way that only a disappointed father could, as he dodges the onslaught of attacks. “You’ve always been emotional, that’s what made you such a risk to have in the lab. Not that it’s a negative element of your personality exactly, it was certainly a facet of yours that your brother loved. I believe you inherited it from your mother.”  
Sans backs away as Gaster speaks, the taller having to continuously dodge the onslaught.   
“You always talked too much.” Sans snaps, three Gaster Blasters rising around his father.  
“Really?” Gaster’s dry expression was nearly comical, it would have been had the situation not been so dire. “My own blasters? I literally developed these with you.”  
The three blasters went off at once and you hide your face in Sans’ hoodie.  
“WHAT THE HECK TRASHBAG?!” Flowey roars at Sans. “HE DIDN’T DO ANYTHING!”  
“Shut it weed.” Sans snaps, looking around the platform. “Where’d you go?”  
You look up, your eyes landing on the blackened floor where Gaster had been just moments before.  
No… Gaster had been your only hope…  
“Honestly, Sans.” Gaster’s voice was exasperated as the three of you “ping!” blue. “You’re completely hopeless when you’re emotional.”   
Relief floods you as Gaster reforms behind Sans.   
“Don’t you dare touch them!” Sans yells as the bodiless hands delicately remove Flowey from your arm and the operating table reappears just in front of you. “I swear! I WILL kill you if you hurt them! I’ll hunt you down in every corner that you hide in!”   
“And here I thought Papyrus was the more dramatic of my sons.” Gaster sighs as he lifts you easily from Sans’ arms. “Here, I’ll let you stay right there.” Sans’ immobilized form is moved to the opposite side of the table from Gaster. A cage of blue bones shoot up around him and Sans is released from the blue magic. “You can watch and see that I’m not hurting them. Once I’ve extracted the demon’s soul and stabilized it you can take Frisk home. Alright?”  
A tray with various tools appear on the table as you’re set down beside them.  
“Now, lay back Frisk.” Gaster guides you onto your back. “Just relax. I will give you more dreams. How about dreams of Paris?”  
You all stare up at him as he smiles happily down at you.  
“Alright, I’ll bite.” Sans grumbles, putting his hands in his hoodie pocket and staring at Gaster. “Why Paris?”  
“My information tells me that Paris is lovely all year around.” Gaster answers happily. “Dreams of Paris sound nice Frisk?”  
You glance at Flowey and Sans. Your dunkle looks both worried and furious.   
You ask Glaster if Sans can hold your hand while he’s doing the procedure?  
“If Sans will behave then yes.” Gaster gives the smaller skeleton a dry look. “Will you behave?”  
“As long as you don’t harm them.” Sans grits out.  
The blue bars near your hand widen enough for Sans to reach through. You take his and and smile nervously.   
You thank Sans and tell him that you’ll be alright, everything will be better once Gaster finishes this procedure.  
“Who’re you trying to convince kid?” Sans asks you as your vision begins to waiver, the dreams pulling you into their warm embrace. “Me? Or yourself?”  
You fall into a soft pile of autumn leaves. All around you there are amber and golden leaves in tall trees. Your friends are there, laughing and playing. Toriel is setting out a picnic with Alphys as Undyne and Papyrus play catch. Mettaton is basking in the sunlight as Napsiblook lays next to them. There’s a pond where you see MK and other monsters playing. Sans is near the pond raising the kids up with his blue magic so that they can cannon ball into the water.  
“Ready to go play?” Asgore is beside you, his large hand on your shoulder, and he smiles warmly down at you. “Come on partner, we don’t want to miss such a good time.”   
You grin and rush to join your friends.   
It’s all so real… Everything down to Ms. Muffett coming with an army of spiders carrying baskets of treats. Grillby bringing burgers. Even annoying dog is just right. The dream is so real...  
A faint laugh makes the world around you shift and the golden glow of the autumn afternoon fades away. The crystal blue sky grows purple and then red as your friends seem to freeze where they were. You look about confusedly.   
What’s going on?  
You call out to Gaster, suddenly remembering that this was a dream.   
“Oh, come now partner.” Someone giggles behind you. “Why’d you have to drag that old fool into our game?”  
You slowly turn around, afraid, and begin to tremble at who’s standing behind you. They’re near your height, just slightly taller and they’re wearing the same thing you are. Their hair is a lighter brown than yours. Their cheeks are rosy. Their smile wide and empty. Their eyes are red.  
“We’ve never been able to talk like this before.” Chara says thoughtfully, their mouth pouting. “Shame really, you’re actually quite cute.” Chara giggles and then spins around. “What do you think of me? Now that you can get a good look at me?”  
You say that they look nice, thinking that if Chara was like the monsters you had faced before then perhaps you could do something now that you had never done before. You compliment their rosy cheeks.  
“Aww, thank you.” Chara giggles. Suddenly their a breath away from you, pushing their face right up into yours. “You’re so sweet Frisky, you know that?”  
You chuckle nervously and thank them.  
“You know, we really are alike.” Chara says. “We could have a lot of fun in the real world if you help me a bit.” Their hands grab yours tightly. “If you would just do as I say we could have a grand old time. So, what do you say?” Their smile widens. “Partner?”  
You shake your head and tell Chara that you don’t want to hurt anyone.  
“Pity that.” Chara’s eyes become large black holes, their mouth opening to a similar darkness. “Suppose we’ll just do this the hard way then. That’s alright though.” Blood begins to pour from their mouth and eyes. “The hard way is always more fun.”


	21. Chapter 21

“The anomaly has burrowed gone deeper…” Gaster’s broken voice says.  
A boney hand grips your own tightly.  
Your entire body feels strange, numb.   
“What’s that mean?” Sans’ voice sounds strained.  
“I don’t know.” Gaster shakes his head as you blink your eyes groggily open.  
Your head moves around, taking in all that’s around you, and the feeling of numbness intensifies. Its strange, almost like you’d felt the last time you’d…  
“Long time no see Flowey.” Your mouth curls into a grin and your hand releases Sans’.  
“What’re you talking about idiot?” Flowey sneers at you. “I’ve been here the entire time!”   
A giggle bubbles from your throat and you sit up. The blue bones restraining Sans fall back as Gaster levels you with an even look.  
“I’d no intentions of meeting you until you’d been extracted and the human child safe.” Gaster says calmly as you hop off the table.  
“I don’t really feel like leaving Frisky though.” Chara bats your eyes at him as your blood begins to race. Energy courses through you as a screen appears beside Gaster. “You’ve been very rude to us, getting in our way.”  
“DT levels rising.” Gaster says after glancing at the panel that appeared. “LV and EXP stable at zero.” He smiles at you. “There is not a single statistical chance of success here for you, anomaly, so please simplify this and lay back.”   
Chara laughs and runs at Gaster. The sound of rushing blood roars in your head and you feel your hand suddenly clenching something.   
You beg Chara to stop but she only laughs as the fight sequence comes up.  
“Let me show you what my DETERMINATION has in store for you.” Chara laughs as she swings the red blade violently at Gaster. “PrEpArE tO dIe FoOl!”   
Gaster, like Sans, dodges Chara’s attacks easily. You’re relieved and hope that he’s as strong as he claimed to be.   
“Impressive, using pure DT to create weapons.” Gaster observes on his turn. “I’d imagine though that your DT must remain excessively high for them to be lethal though. Tell me, how long do you think your DETERMINATION will last against one who’s physicality is unstable?”  
“LoNg EnOuGh!” Chara seethes, slamming their fist on the FIGHT button.  
Chara charges Gaster again and tries to gash him with their blades but it does nothing.  
“Enough!” Sans’ voice surprises both you and Chara.  
Your soul pings blue and you’re trapped immobile.   
“CoMeDiAn!” Chara screeches.   
“I’m getting real sick of your shit brat.” Sans snaps, entering the fight and standing beside Gaster. “Give up and let the kid go. You can’t win against us.”   
“Oh ReAlLy?” Chara laughs before clearing their throat, your own voice coming out. “Are you so sure about that? You won’t hurt us. You wouldn’t want to hurt Frisk.” They giggle sweetly as Sans’ and Gaster’s eyes narrow. “I may not know about Gastly over there but I know you. You care, you love them like they’re some stupid puppy that you took in off the street.”   
“Heh…” Sans’ grin turns icy. “Yeah, you’re right, I do care about them. They’re my kiddo.” His eye flashes and you’re slammed to the ground, your health falls to 19/20. “I’ll do anything for the people I care about. Even if it means I have to hold you down and rip your soul out of their body myself.”   
You brace for the onslaught as Chara screams furiously.   
“If you can keep them still I will try to extract them.” Gaster says as Sans’ turn ends. “I need them perfectly still.”  
“Got it.” Sans nods.  
Chara throws several blades at them, running around the skeletons in a large circle trying to hit them. Your heart pounds furiously in your chest.  
“YoU’rE fOoLs!” Chara screams as your body is caught in blue magic. “ThEy WiLl SuFfEr EvErYtHiNg!”   
“I won’t let their soul shatter.” Gasters assures Sans as the smaller skeleton forces your body to remain still. “I will be fast.”  
Your soul jerks to the surface as Chara stops struggling. Your soul is blue and pulsating furiously as Chara continues to struggle. Gaster stops just in front of you, a scalpel appearing in his hand.  
Just as the sharp tip of the scalpel cuts into your soul the weight of your body comes back to you. The pain of the sharp blade cutting into your soul makes you cry out in pain. Your health drops to 14/20.  
“Calm down.” Gaster says calmly, continuing his procedure as his bodiless hands grab the sides of your head. “Close your eyes and go to sleep. The anomaly only pushed you out to feel the pain so that they didn’t have to.”   
You clench your eyes shut, tears streaming down your face. Your health falls to 11/20.  
You cry out as Gaster uses a clamp to open the incision. The hands on either side of your head glow brightly and you can feel them trying to pull you under their current. But the pain, it was too much. Your entire body’s crying out in protest.  
You finally break as your health drops to 9/20 and beg him to stop. It hurts, you tell him, it hurts so much. Please just stop.  
“Gaster, stop.” Sans says, his hand on Gaster’s forearm. “This isn’t the anomaly. You’re hurting Frisk.”  
“I won’t let their health reach critical levels.” Gaster replies calmly. “If they just go back to sleep they won’t be aware of the pain. Just keep them still Sans.”   
“Wait!” Sans says quickly, putting himself between you and Gaster. “Just give me a second to calm them down. You can put them to sleep and then finish this.”  
“The anomaly was right Sans.” Gaster sighs, the tools in his hands and your soul disappearing. “You are very emotional when it comes to this human, just as you were with Papyrus.”  
“Heh,” Sans shrugs, turning towards you. “yeah, a real shame…” His eyes fall on your tear stained face. “Hey, hey kiddo.” He grips your shoulders and squeezes them gently. “Look at me, it’s alright. It’s just you and me buddy.”   
You force your eyes open, your tears blurring your vision, and tremblingly tell Sans that it hurts.  
“I know kiddo.” Sans lowers you to him, still holding you in the blue magic. “Just relax. I’m right here, I’m not going anywhere.” When you’re lowered to the ground he wraps his arms around you and hugs you tightly. “Gaster’s gonna help you fall asleep and when you wake up we’ll go home. Pap’s will make you spaghetti and we’ll stay up late and watch T.V.” He gentle rubs your back as you tremble. “I won’t let Gaster hurt you baby bones. You’re coming home with me as soon as that brat is outta you. Okay?” Something hard presses against the crown of your head, the blue magic fading. “Come on, gimme a hug buddy. It’s going to be alright. I promise.”  
You nod and hugging tightly, clenching his hoodie and taking deep breaths.   
“That’s it kiddo.” Sans sooths leading you back towards the operating table where Flowey was waiting palely. “It’s alright, I’m going to be right here next to you the entire time. No one is going to hurt you.”  
You hesitate as your heart begins to beat rapidly.  
“It’s okay, Gaster is just going to take Chara outta you and then we’re going home.” Sans assures you as the blood rushes in your ears. “Come on, we can swing by Nicecream Guy’s stand on the way home and get some nicecream for your HP. How’s that sound?”  
Your head nods numbly.   
Lunging forward you feel tears stream down your cheek as your arm swings forward. The red blade of a knife made of pure DETERMINATION plunges into the left side of Sans’ torso, cutting through his hoodie.   
“I-I…” Sans’ eyes are wide as he stares at you in shock before he chuckles. “Heh… Got me brat…” His body begins to erode. “Frisk… Stay DETERMINED… I’m rooting for you kid.”  
Your soul goes numb as Chara laughs hysterically. You couldn’t think, your head filling with a strange white noise.  
Something blasts you from behind and you sprawl forward. 4/20 health.  
“Listen human,” Gaster’s voice was enraged, his eyes now both flashing violently. “Now, you’ve made me angry…”   
Flowey inches towards you and nudges you with a vine.   
“Hey, Asriel.” Chara chuckles softly. “I don’t want our game to end yet… Do you?”  
Flowey shakes his head as Gaster walks slowly towards you.  
Your soul is trapped in blue magic and he slams you against the ground. 3/20.  
“I’ve watched you slaughter my sons for the last time demon.”Gaster seethes, his voice warbling, his black form seeming to grow larger. “You will not continue this way. I will not allow it.”   
You’re slammed against the operating table, you back snapping against the edge painfully. 1/20  
“H-Hey!” Flowey shouts. “Wait! Stop!”   
“And you!” Gaster turns on Flowey, holding you trapped in blue, as he raises a Gaster Blaster. “You did nothing! You’ve stolen the souls of both my sons countless times! Devoured all the souls of the Underground! You are no better than them!” The blaster charges as Flowey pales. “I let you live to appease the anomaly! I showed you both MERCY! I tried to give you both a happy ending! But now…” You’re thrusted onto the ground beside Flowey as the blaster charges. “No one gets a happy ending.”   
A bright light flashes.   
-999999999999  
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.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Depression is a serious issue and should not be taken lightly.  
> Also, I do not endorse or recommend anyone selling their souls to talking flowers.  
> That's just bad juju.

.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
It glows before you, a golden beacon in the dark…  
CONTINUE SAVE FILE RESET  
Chara’s hollow soul continues to fling itself at the RESET key, the button always dying at their touch…  
The CONTINUE button is grey and dead…  
But you turn away from them…  
You’re so tired, you don’t want to try anymore…  
All this pain…  
All this suffering…  
You just want it to stop…  
Where could you go? What file could you choose where you could fix this?  
There was no continuing from where you had just left, not in your mind.  
There was no resetting and fixing this that you could see…  
What could you do though?  
You wonder what would happen if you just exist here? If you just chose to stay in this place of darkness and meaningless options? Would the timelines go on?  
You drift away from the control panel and deeper into the darkness.   
Choosing another file wouldn’t work… You knew Chara’s terms and if you RESET now it would be at their pleasure… And continuing on was just no longer an option for you.  
How much you’d give to just let it all stop… To just let the world go on without you. To wash away all the guilt and pain that you couldn’t forget and instead just sleep in this darkness.  
Could you do it? Could you just give up and exist here? Would the guilt eat you alive? Would you miss your friends? Would you still feel alone or would it become worse? Could this reprieve become worse than the nightmares you had been living your whole like long?  
Another distant light glows and you curiously go towards it. Its another button, another control panel, with a single option.  
TRUE RESET  
You float nearer it. Why was this familiar? Why did this option bring back memories you couldn’t recall?  
It was a RESET option but where was Chara’s soul?   
Was this different from the other RESET option?  
What if….  
You try to remember, grasping at the memories that were so foggy. Why was this so familiar?! What can’t you remember?!   
You hover closer to the button, nervously inspecting it.  
A TRUE RESET? You just couldn’t remember…  
But….   
You think back to your friends, your family, everything you had done and known.   
If you could go back you would do things so differently…  
You’d never hurt anyone and, after freeing the monsters, you’d go away. You’d find a way to disappear, give them a truly happy ending… You’d go away and take Chara with you. You’d make sure no one had to suffer because of you again…  
Chara’s soul wasn’t here at this panel so maybe… Maybe this was your chance? Maybe this was your chance to make everything right?   
Maybe… This way… Chara wouldn’t be involved?  
Nervously, anxiously, and desperately you press the option.   
You choose TRUE RESET…  
LOADING…  
LOADING….  
LOADING…..  
LOADING……  
LOADING……..  
LOAD COMPLETE.  
.  
.  
.  
The sweet scent of flowers fill your nose, tickling your nostrils. Sunlight shines warmly on your aching back.   
Groggily you blink your bleary eyes up at the bright sunlight.   
What happened, you wonder, where are you?   
You sit up against a bed of soft, golden, flowers. Dazed, you sit up and look around.   
The dark cavern… Sunlight shining down on you from above… The oppressive shadows before you…. The gentle golden flowers that had broken your fall….  
Your heart drops and you look around at yourself now. The purple striped sweater… Oversized shorts…. Ratty sneakers…   
No no no no no no no no no! This had to be a dream!  
Frantically you get to your feet and look up. All you could see was the sunlight shining down on you.  
No…  
You’d RESET… You’d really RESET…  
You’d TRULY RESET.  
You wanted to puke as you shakily sank to your knees and laid down in the flowers. How could this have… How could you have… Why was this?  
Your head fills with a buzzing white noise and you feel yourself go numb. God you’re so stupid, you think to yourself, of course this is what it had meant. What had you been expecting? You push a button and suddenly everything would be fixed and happy and dandy? That’s not how the world works! That’s never how’d it’d worked! Not for you at least and not for anyone who was around you!  
You take a deep breath… You knew what you had to do… You knew every step of the way… You knew everything that anyone could throw at you… You knew everything about this world…   
You get to your feet and look around. A thick, sturdy, stick lays just inside the cavern.   
You equip the stick.   
Taking a deep breath you steal yourself for what’s to come. This wasn’t anything new… You knew what to do… Hopefully, this time, you wouldn’t die so much. Though, the thought of fighting everyone again fills you with anxiety.  
Each step you take increases the dread inside of you and, as you reach the entry way into the next room, you begin to tremble. You can’t do this again… You can’t… The pain… The fear… The DEATHS… It’s too much, you can’t do this…  
“Howdy!” A familiar, chipper voice says brightly to you as a little golden flower with a happy smile pops up in the room before you. “I’m Flowey. Flowey the flower! Hee hee hee…”  
The tears that had been steadily rising broke and fell down your face as you crumple to your knees before the flower.  
“Why’d you make me introduce myself?” Flowey snaps at you. “It’s rude to act like you don’t know who I am.”   
You look up at Flowey and a small, sad, laugh escapes your lips. You ask him if he remembers? You hope that he remembers, at least…  
“Of course I remember idiot!” Flowey snaps at you, his happy façade going away. “What did you do?! I know you RESET but EVERYTHING is back the way it was! There’s not a single sign that you’d ever been here before!”   
You explain to him that you found another option, the TRUE RESET, and chose that. But…. It just brought you back to the beginning…  
“TRUE RESET?” Flowey stares at you for a moment before a wide, twisted grin spreads across his face. “Hee hee hee, oh this WILL be fun! Everything all over again and again and again!”   
You feel the blood drain from your face… Again… And again… And again…  
You ask Flowey to come with you, ask him to help you this time.  
“Pffff!” Flowey sticks his tongue out at you. “Why should I do that? It’s already so much fun just to watch you struggle.”   
You can feel your hands begin to shake and you take a deep breath. Thinking quickly you tell him it’s something new, something that neither of you had ever tried before. You try to laugh casually.   
Let’s do something completely different this time, you offer, do things off the script that you’d written through your RESETS.  
“I’ve never actually gone with you before…” Flowey agrees thoughtfully. “Alright, what are you thinking?”  
You laugh and say that you’re going to sneak past everyone this time. If he can get you to Alphys’ lab you can both take the elevator from there straight to the castle and then to the six human souls.   
A dark thought crosses through your mind and you’re suddenly calm. There was a way for everyone, even yourself, to have a happy ending…  
Flowey can have them and, if he breaks the barrier for the monsters and let the six souls go, you’d give him yours. With your DETERMINATION he could become Asriel again. He could be the all powerful Prince of this world again and do as he wished.  
“I like where this is going.” Flowey nods in approval, seeming to consider this idea. “And what do you get out of this? If you’re giving me your soul? Or do you think I won’t actually take it once I’m Asriel again?”  
Oh no, you assure him, you’re counting on him taking it. You’re done with this world, with every possible world, and because Chara will always be hiding in your soul it’d be safer for Flowey to have it anyway. You smile, the smile a little too wide and crooked, and ask him what he thought?   
“I think…” Flowey shares a twisted smile with you. “It’s a grand idea, partner.”


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't run with scissors.  
> Or talking plants.  
> Or away from skeletons with anger issues.  
> Actually, just don't run.  
> Eat cake instead.

Getting through the Ruins was their first challenge. Luckily, most monsters shied away from Flowey so you didn’t have to worry about that. What you did have to worry about was Toriel…  
Flowey is able to use his vines to swing you over most of the spikes that blocked your way so you didn’t have to solve the puzzles, which was a relief. As you got to the long corridor with the single pillar where Toriel had hid as she’d guided you through the Ruins on previous runs Flowey made you stop behind the pillar.  
“Someone’s coming.” Flowey tells you in a soft whisper.   
You crouch low behind the pillar and in seconds you hear rushing footsteps.  
“Am I too late?” It’s Toriel’s urgent, worried, voice.  
You keep low behind the pillar and watch as Toriel runs through the room, not even looking around.   
“Please be safe my child, please be alright.” You hear her voice pray as she rushes through the puzzles of the other room.  
You and Flowey glance at each other before heading onward.  
“What’s that all about?” Flowey asks as you stop at the bowl full of monster candy and stuff your pockets with 7 pieces. You feel like the scum of the earth.  
You shake your head, you don’t know. Maybe she did that every run through? You didn’t actually know what she did before she found you each time.  
“Yeah, maybe…” Flowey frowns and looks ahead. “Something’s different this time though…”  
You ask him how so?  
“If I knew I’d spit it out you idiot!” Flowey snaps as he swings you over more spike traps. “Its just different, I don’t know… It feels like strings are getting pulled… Like someone else is doing something.”  
You shrug, it didn’t matter to you. You tell him just to focus on getting you to the other six human souls.   
“Yeah, whatever.” Flowey sneers at you. “You know, I thought that doing this would be more fun not less. You’re boring.”   
That makes you giggle. You ask him if he has seven coins on him?   
“Why?” Flowey asks.   
You point to the hall that lead to the spider bake sale. You tell him that if you buy a spider doughnut here it’s cheaper and you won’t have to fight Ms. Muffet if you show her the receipt.  
“Umm….” Flowey shakes his head. “No? I’m a freaking flower moron! Where am I supposed to keep coins?!”  
You sigh and agree. Oh well, maybe you wouldn’t have to deal with Ms. Muffet if you took the elevator from the True Lab directly up to the Capital? That’s assuming the freaking elevator was working… Also, the idea of facing off with the amalgamates made you shiver.   
Ugh…. This all just sucks…  
You and Flowey reach Toriel’s house surprisingly easily, making a pit stop just before it to gather the plastic knife. You had no intentions of using it to do more than threaten but… If you had to you could buy time with it and FLEE.  
Something you hadn’t counted on was Toriel’s door being locked. You pause at the save point, creating a file and making sure that your health was maxed before asking Flowey what you should do?  
“Umm…” Flowey examines the lock thoughtfully before trying it with one of his vines. “Maybe?”  
He summons many of his Friendliness Pellets and shoots them directly at the lock. The lock, as well as a good chunk of the door, break and leave a gaping hole.  
“Problem solved!” Flowey grins widely, proudly.   
You ask Flowey why he did that?!  
“You wanted the door open didn’t you?” Flowey snaps. “Well, it’s open! Now hurry up!”  
You, reluctantly, rush through the door and to the kitchen. You weren’t interested in chocolate typically but you knew enough about what lay ahead of you that you would need as many items as you could get. After you snagged the name brand chocolate bar from the fridge you run down towards the exit.   
As you pass through the first door, where Toriel usually stops you and you’d have to fight her, you get an uneasy feeling.   
You tell Flowey that you don’t think that you’re alone…  
“That’s what I’ve been saying all along.” Flowey snaps at you. “NOW you believe me?”  
You shake your head and quickly tell him that you’re sorry. You’d always thought that this feeling of being followed was because Flowey had been following you, but now… There was something that made you feel uneasy.  
“Things aren’t the same this time…” Flowey mutters as you go into the second corridor, closing the door behind you. “Be careful…”  
You nod in agreement and reach the door that lead to Snowden Forest. Hesitating, you press your ear to the door and listen… You had to get through the forest unseen. If you could just get outside, around Alphys’ camera in the bushes to the left of the door, and into the woods you might be able to get past Sans and Papyrus, the dogs too… Maybe?  
As you wonder down the last corridor you see a figure standing ahead of you, at the exit of the Ruins. You and Flowey both tense as a short figure, still taller than you, approached. For a moment you feared it was Sans but then you realized it didn’t have arms. MK? How was MK here in the ruins?  
“It’s HIM.” Flowey hisses angrily in your ear. “I can sense HIM here.”  
You look at Flowey and wonder who HIM is?  
“*************************************************************” Gaster’s broken speech echoes along the corridor, his voice coming from the grey monster that looked so much like MK making you freeze. “*************************************************************************************************************************************”  
You take a step back as the grey MK tries to touch you with it’s head, it’s eyes unseeing.  
“***************************************************” The jumbled language sounded like a question but you couldn’t understand them. “************************************************************************************************************************************************************” Gaster’s broken voice sounded calm and logical. “*******************************************************************************************************************************”  
As Gaster’s voice spoke through the grey MK, you inched along the wall keeping a safe distance from the grey monster. When you were facing with your back to the exit you felt Flowey shift. You continue to back up as the grey MK walks towards you.   
A cold blast of air on your back was the only thing you needed. You ran.  
You sprint as fast as you can out the doors of the Ruins and veer sharply to the left, behind the bush where the first of Alphys’ many cameras were hidden, and into the woods. Dodging, jumping, and running past the rocks, branches, and shrubbery of the forest.   
You run as hard as you can, Flowey trying to help by slapping the branches out of the way with his vines. Still, even with Flowey’s help, you get struck and whipped by the branches more than a few times. When you finally stop it’s at a short cliff. The opposite ledge was less than ten feet across. Looking to your right, hanging onto a tree for support, you see the clear trail that you had usually walked in all the past RESETS. The bridge with the wide bars where you would meet Sans for the first time.   
You pull back into the woods and sink to the ground. Gulping deep breaths of cold air you lean against the tree as Flowey climbs up the tree, his vines pulling him up easily, and gets and overhead view of the trail.  
“Trashbag’s behind us towards the Ruin’s door.” Flowey tells you as he comes back down, landing in your waiting arms as you catch him. “Looked like he was talking to someone, but I couldn’t see who.”  
You nod and ask how much time he though you both had before Sans started heading back up this way?  
“You know trashbag better than me.” Flowey glares at you. “What’d’you think?!”  
You shake your head, you don’t know. All you want to do is curl up and cry…   
But… It’s cold here… Sans and whatever that Gaster thing was is behind you and could be getting closer. There’s Alphys’ cameras to worry about. Papyrus was ahead and you had to find a way to sneak past him and all the dogs without Sans finding out. Then there was Undyne after them and….  
It all felt so hopeless. You just didn’t want to fight anymore.  
“I think I can swing us across this.” Flowey says, oblivious to your internal turmoil, staring up at the branches of a tree across the small gap. “You get a running start and jump, aim for that tree.” He indicates a particularly knarled looking tree across the gap.   
You take a deep breath and get up, you can’t give up now. You’re going to end this once and for all.   
Knowing that this was the final run that you would ever do in the Underground fills you with DETERMINATION.   
You back up a ways, making sure that the path was clear, and lock your eyes on the high branches of the knarled tree as Flowey wraps his vines around your shoulders and arms. You sway back and forth a bit on your feet. You’d run so far. You could jump and dodge any attack anyone here had ever thrown at you. You can do this.  
You are DETERMINED.  
You take off at a sprint and leap with all your force into the air, your arms outstretched reaching for the branches. Your fingers graze the pine needles before Flowey’s vines shoot out and wrap around the branch.   
You both swing forcefully into the next bit of woods and tumble into the snow.   
Dazed you sit up and look around, your heart dropping. You’d tumbled straight into the clearing where Sans’ sentry post was, knocking over and subsequently breaking the lamp that you had hidden behind.   
Scrambling to your feet you hear people approaching from both directions of the path and run back into the woods.   
“SANS!” Papyrus’ annoyed voice makes your heart skip a beat as you and Flowey hide low inside the forest.   
“Sup, bro?” Sans strolls casually into the right side of your view from the woods behind the sentry booth.   
“YOU KNOW WHAT ‘SUP’ BROTHER!” Papyrus enters your left view. “ITS BEEN EIGHT DAYS AND YOU STILL HAVENT… RECALIBRATED. YOUR. PUZZLES!” He stomps his feet on the snowy path in frustration. “YOU JUST HANG AROUND OUTSIDE YOUR STATION! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING?!”  
“Staring at this…” Sans’ eyes fall on the broken lamp before he chuckles, his eyes going black for a moment before he grins at Papyrus. “Sorry bro. I’ll get right on those puzzles in a bit. I got a skele-ton of things to do first.”   
“SANS!” Papyrus snaps warningly, a smile spreading at the corners of his mouth.  
“Come on,” Sans grins. “You’re smiling.”  
“I AM AND I HATE IT!” Papyrus says before sighing. “WHY DOES SOMEONE AS GREAT AS ME HAVE TO DO SO MUCH TO GET SOME RECOGNITION.”   
“Wow, sounds like you’re really working yourself,” Sans chuckles. “Down to the bone.”  
As the brothers continue the familiar conversation you begin to crawl through the woods onward. Flowey helps you quietly navegate the forest floor as snow, slush, and mud cover you from head to toe. You’re absolutely filthy by the time you reach the three way intersection.  
You jump on the chance to save and then rush over to the interdimensional box where you stash the chocolate bar and three of the monster candies you’d taken.   
If you remember correctly there’s another box up ahead that always had a tough glove in it. The only issue was that that box was in Snowden. You’d have to move quickly.   
“Human…” The voice behind you makes Flowey scream as you freeze. “Don’t you know how to greet a new pal?”  
You begin to tremble and clear your throat. You say that you do know how to greet a new pal… Does he know how to greet an old pal?  
“Turn around.” He says calmly. “and shake my hand.”   
You shake your head and says only if he puts the whoopee cushion away.  
“Heh heh.” Sans chuckles as you turn around, his hand disappearing into his pocket. “What? Can’t take a joke?” He nods his head towards Flowey. “This is new. You’ve never carried the weed with you before.”  
“Watch it trashbag!” Flowey snaps angrily as you gently place your hand on his vine.  
You force yourself to look Sans in the eyes and tell him that you’re going to the True Lab to break the barrier again. Flowey’s agreed to cooperate. You just need to get through.  
“Yeah, alright, fair enough.” Sans fixes you with a perplex expression. “Last I remember… Chara had just stabbed me in the ribs so… Care to fill me in on what happened after I bit the dust? Like, why we’re back here?”  
You struggle to hold his gaze but tell him, keeping your voice flat, that you died and RESET. This time you’re doing everything right, you tell him, and you just need to slip by undetected.  
“Too late for that bucko.” Sans sighs and pulls out his cellphone, pulling up a text from Alphys. “Here, she sent it to everyone including Paps and Undyne.”

ALERT! Human activity detected in Snowden woods. ALERT!  
\- Alphys

You feel your heart sink, you’d have to go through all the bosses again…  
“Something’s different this time around though…” Sans says, pocketing his phone. “Did you run into Toriel in the ruins?”   
You shake your head and tell him that you and Flowey snuck past her.   
“Ah.” Sans nods slowly. “She… How do I put it… It’s a lot to explain I suppose.” He chuckles and gives you a wide, friendly, grin. “How about we go to Grillby’s? I know a shortcut that will take you right past everything in the woods and we can talk it out there.” He holds out his hand to you.  
You smile at the thought and instinctively begin to reach towards his offered hand. But, your hand stops short of his and falls back to your side. Sans’ smile wavers some and he cocks and eye at you.   
You tell him you have to keep going but that you’d appreciate it if he could use a short cut to get you to Snowden.   
“What’s the rush?” Sans frowns now. “We’ve literally got all the time in the Underground kiddo.” He smiles again. “Come on, we’ll go back to my house and you can clean up. Then we can go to Grillby’s and get something to eat.”   
You shake your head and look at the path ahead. You begin to walk down the path towards Snowden, resigned to fighting the bosses again and trying to remember everything you could to minimize the damage you’d take…  
“Kid.” Sans’ voice was calm as you ping blue. “I’m not playing around with you this time. So you can either come with me on your own or I can just take you.”   
You ask him to let you go.  
“What the heck’s gotten into you?” Sans snaps at you as you’re spun around to face him. “What’s gotten into your head lately?! What’ve you done to the timeline and why is everything so different?!”  
You feel angry, cold, and miserable. You just want this to be over with. You look at Flowey who’s trapped in the blue with you. You ask him what choices you really have?  
“I could shoot him.” Flowey glares at Sans as the skeleton glares right back. “But, I suppose you won’t let me do that.”   
You look back at Sans who holds you gaze.  
“We can figure this out.” Sans tells you. “Kid... I’ve been trying to help you. I know I didn’t help you much in past runs but I’m trying to help you now.” He gestures to the road that you’d begun to walk down. “It’s freezing out here and you’re soaked to the bone, what’d you do? Crawl through the dump?” He offers a halfhearted chuckle but you remain stoic. “Let me help you.”   
You take a deep breath before sighing. You tell him you have to hurry, you don’t have a lot of time to waste…  
“Well,” Sans grins walking up to you. “Good thing I know a short cut. That should buy us enough time for Grillby’s, a bath, and a long talk.” He takes your hand as you’re released from the blue magic. “Cause kid, you got some explaining to do.”   
 


	24. Chapter 24

Sans leads you down the path and just as you’re about to cross into the next area you’re suddenly standing before his front door.  
“Short cuts.” Sans winks at you as he unlocks the door. “Welp, you remember where the bath room is?”  
You nod and go to the door under the stairs.  
“Go ahead and hop in, I’ll grab you a towel and some cloths.” Sans says, heading up the stairs.  
“We can run now while he’s busy.” Flowey whispers as you go into the bathroom.  
You shake your head and set him on the sink, if you run now Sans will definitely catch you and you’ll definitely have a bad time. At least, you reason as you undress while Flowey stares angrily into the corner with his back to you, the short cut did buy you some time. You’d get food with Sans, answer his questions, and then be on your way. Hopefully you can still get past undetected by Undyne?  
The skele-brother’s bathroom was very small with only and enormously tall standing shower, toilet, and sink. Turning the water on high you step in and let the hot water warm you to the bone.  
“Gotcha a towel and some cloths.” Sans’ voice startles you and you look over, his hand sticking through the door and setting the items on the sink. “Hey, weed, get outta there.” Flowey pings blue. “You don’t need to be in there while the kid washes up, what are you a perv?”  
“UNHAND ME YOU SLIMY TRASH BAG!” Flowey roars angrily.  
You tell Sans that you don’t mind him being in here but it’s too late. Flowey is floated out of the room and the door closes.  
You sigh and hurry up. Taking a bar of soap nearby you lather up quickly and rinse. You dry as fast as you can with the offered towel, Flowey’s raised voice from the living room making you worry, and then you get dressed. Sans had brought you a pair of basketball shorts like what he usually wore, an oversized turtleneck that was so large it went to your ankles, and a pair of socks. You hand up the towel on the door knob, the hook far too high for you to reach, and hurry into the living room.  
Flowey is sitting beside the pet rock, Sans grinning as he leans on the table.  
“So,” Sans clears his throat and walks over to you. “You wanna talk now or get food first?”  
You tell him you don’t care.  
“Alright, get comfy kid.” Sans nods to the couch. “Want anything to drink?”  
You ask for water for yourself and Flowey.  
Seated on the squishy couch you tuck your feet under the oversized turtleneck’s hem and wait. Sans bring you each a glass of water and sits beside you.  
“We’re gonna start nice and easy…” Sans’ calm demeanor for some reason makes you nervous. “How’d you die?”  
You tell him you got killed, your HP hit zero.  
“How did it hit zero?” Sans asks, his eyes narrowing as his smile twitched. “What caused it to hit zero? I remember it was low but not close to zero.”  
You shrug and tell him at this point, with how many times you’ve died, does it really matter?  
“Yes it does.” Sans snaps. “Are you going to answer me or not?”  
You tell him that you don’t want to talk about it and ask in return does he ever talk about him getting killed?  
“….” Sans fixes you with a hard expression before sighing. “Alright, we’ll circle back to that. Why’d you completely RESET? Why didn’t you chose another option? Another time to go back to?”  
You pause… Honestly you couldn’t really remember what had been going through your head when you chose the TRUE RESET option… You’d always assumed that hitting the RESET button was a TRUE RESET because it brought you back to the beginning, you’d never known that there was such a thing as TRUE RESET.  
You tell Sans that you’d hoped it would let you take away everything wrong you had ever done. Take away everyone’s memories, even your own. Maybe it would give you the chance to do everything without Charas influence? Maybe you could make everything right? Maybe no one would remember anything… Maybe you and Flowey and even Sans’ own memories could be RESET? Maybe… Maybe you could wash your sins away if you just did everything right in one run?  
“Kid…” Sans sighs, his eyes very tired, and his hand ruffles your hair. “We can’t… You can’t… No one can just wash away their sins. I think you’ve got as close to that ability as anyone being able to RESET at all…” He pulls his hand back and chuckles. “Your head’s soaked kiddo. Did you dry it at all?”  
You tell him you tried to.  
“Sit tight for a minute.” Sans gets up and grabs the towel from the bathroom. “Alright,” He begins to dry your head. “So you RESET completely, again.” The annoyance in his voice was clear. “So why’re you with the weed?”  
“I’M RIGHT HERE TRASH!” Flowey snaps from the table.  
“Yeah, unfortunately.” Sans shoots him a dirty look. “Well?”  
You tell him that you know how the runs play out. So, you and Flowey are trying to bypass somethings. If you can get to Alphys’ true lab and get Flowey to the human souls he’ll be able to take the souls of those in the Underground and break the barrier again. Then, you explain, he’ll return the monsters’ souls in exchange for the humans’ and you can all have a happy ending again.  
“Alright…” Sans looks at Flowey then back at you. “And how do you know he’ll really give our souls back?”  
Because Flowey doesn’t actually want all the monsters’ souls, you explain and look over at Flowey, all he wants is a soul of his own.  
“Uh huh…” Sans looks between you and him again, removing the towel from your head. “Yeah, I can’t imagine a single monster that’d be fine with “lending” their souls to Flowey even to break the barrier.”  
You shrug and ask what other option do you really have?  
“Let’s go to Grillby’s and I’ll tell ya.” Sans grins, tossing the towel onto the arm of the couch. “I told you that things are different this time.”  
You sigh, get off the couch, and put your muddy sneakers on. Gathering Flowey you follow Sans up the road to Grillby’s. For the most part everything was the same except… Some of the monsters look at you with strange expressions. You look up at Sans but he keeps his gaze ahead, his hand on your wrist tight as though he knows that you’ll run at any given chance.  
“Whatcha want?” Sans asks as you enter the restaurant to a chorus of greetings. “Burg? Fries?”  
You tell him fries are good, not actually very hungry, as you both sit at the bar.  
“Three orders of Fries, Grill.” Sans says, opening the bottle of ketchup in front of him. “Alright bucko, you answered some of my questions so I guess I’ll fill you in on some things too.”  
You nod, Flowey moving from your shoulders to the bar top.  
“Things aren’t the same this time, something’s different.” Sans explains. “For starters, you with the flowey and exactly what you’re doing but that’s the obvious. What’s not obvious is that monsters, some of them, remember.” He gives you a side long look. “You get what I’m saying?”  
You shake your head and then freeze. Monsters are… Remembering? You ask who and how much are they remembering?  
“Well, Tori for starters remembers you.” Sans sighs. “She was at the Ruins door when I got there and dang near had a panic attack. What’d you do? Sprint through the ruins?”  
You and Flowey both share sheepish grins.  
“That answers that.” Sans chuckles and ruffles your hair. “Tori’s on her way to the capital. I don’t know if she remembers all of the runs but she remembers the last one at least. She’s going to Asgore before you can get to him to prevent him from battling you.” He grimaces. “I don’t even know how we’re going to explain this to them... Then Great Dog was looking for you for pets when I’d passes him, but the thing is you hadn’t come through the area yet so how could he remember you if he doesn’t remember the timelines?” Sans stops as Grillby comes with the fries. “Thanks Grillby.”  
“…..” The fire monster crackles, nodding his head towards you once. “………”  
Sans freezes and then groans, rubbing his skull.  
“Grillby remembers too…” Sans tells you as you look bewildered between them both. “And says there’s someone in the back who wants to talk to us, apparently someone else remembers?” Sans looks at you with a concerned expression. “What’d you do kid? How is everyone remembering?”  
You and Flowey both shake your heads. You tell him all you did was hit the button, you hadn’t done anything else.  
“Alright…” Sans sighs and shakes his head. “We’re going to figure this out, alright.” He gives you an encouraging smile. “Together. You’re not alone this time. We’re gonna work this out together.”  
You nod and look down at the fries. They’re hot and fresh, a bright golden color, perfectly fried. Your stomach is in knots though as you nibble on one. Flowey for his part inhales the fries and yours when you offer him them.  
“Not hungry?” Sans cocks an eye at you as you push your fries over to him, his own basket half finished.  
You shake your head and tell him your stomach is upset.  
“Hey Grill,” Sans waves over the fire monster. “Got anything for a bad stomach?”  
The fire monster considers you for a minute, his featureless face somehow looking concerned or even pitying, before he shakes his head.  
“………..” Grillby crackles at Sans.  
“Yeah, that’s a good idea.” Sans chuckles and ruffles your hair. “Who’s in the back by the way? They give you a name?”  
“………….” Grillby crackles in response. “……………….”  
“Eh?” Sans looks confused. “You pulling my femur?”  
Grillby shakes his head before moving to take another customer’s order.  
You ask Sans what up?  
“Just confused.” Sans replies before finishing off the bottle of ketchup. “Hey, finish my fries for me. I’m gonna go see our friend in the back.”  
You want to ask him why but one of Flowey’s vines smack’s your hand as Sans gets off the bar stool. Sans walks around the bar to Grillby standing at the end and they talk a bit before the skeleton glances back at you.  
“I’ll be right back.” Sans calls over to you. “Hang tight alright?”  
You nod and smile nervously as the fire monster opens the door to the back for Sans.  
“Now’s our chance.” Flowey hisses at you as soon as Sans is out of sight. “Walk out of here, and book it down the path towards waterfall.”  
Your brain goes blank for a minute before you nod. You take the flower off the counter and slide off the stool to lead. As you turn towards the door to exit Grillby moves infront of you with crossed arms and a head tilted to the side.  
“………….” He crackles at you.  
You apologize and tell him you can’t understand him like Sans does. You then thank him for the food and tell him you’ll be on your way. As you try to go around Grillby he moves to continue to obstruct your way to the door.  
“……….” Grillby crackles at you.  
“Get out of the way flame boy!” Flowey hisses.  
“………” Grillby pointedly glares at the flower before shaking his head.  
You take a deep breath and walk pointedly towards Grillby then. The fire monster kept great control of his flames but that didn’t mean that they couldn’t burn you. As you walk up to him, closer and closer, he inches back a bit.  
You tell Grillby that you’re not afraid of getting burned and that you have to leave, now.  
The fire monster’s expression changes from annoyed to concerned before he crackles in a way that sounds like a laugh as you can hear noises of people approaching outside.  
Grillby steps out of your way and you nod your head to him in thanks. As you reach the door it bursts open. The guards from the woods, all of the dogs, coming in for their lunch break.  
“It’s pets!” Great dog barks excitedly the second he sees you.  
Before you can get away you’re besieged by all of the dogs demanding pets. You try to escape but the moment you get away from Great Dog you’re cornered by Dogamy and Dogaressa who demand pets. As you try to pry yourself towards the door Lesser Dog excitedly bounds up to you and nuzzles you until you pet him too. Even Doggo demands pets. The more you pet one dog the more the others demand your attention until you find yourself furiously petting Doggo and Lesser Dog as Dogamy and Dogaressa argue over the best kinds of pets and Great Dog flops comfortably in your lap.  
This wasn’t at all how you though this run would go.  
“Starting a dog collection?” Sans’ chuckling voice makes you look up as your heart sinks, your chance to get away was now gone. “Alright, one of ya mutts throw me a bone, what’s going on?”  
“Pets!” Greater dog barks happily. “All the pets!”  
You look pleadingly up at Sans who chuckles and offers you his hand.  
“Yes well, the petter has to come with me so you just get your grub and we’ll be on our way.” Sans says as you take his hand.  
The dogs whimper but slowly get off you and mill about to empty seats.  
Grillby stands beside Sans with crossed arms and looks down at you with a disapproving expression as Flowey glares up at him.  
“What’s up Grillby?” Sans looks up at him questioningly.  
“……..” Grillby crackles and Sans’ smile wavers.  
“Kiiiiiiid.” Sans draws out the word, giving you a long look. “You didn’t try to leave while I was in the back, did you?”  
You remain silent, your eyes focusing on the ground.  
“Dang it kid…” Sans rubs his skull before snatching your hand. “Thanks Grillby, put the fries on my tab.”  
You’re pulled back down the main road of Snowden, Flowey handing onto your shoulders, as more monsters than before look at you in surprise and begin to whisper to one another.  
“What the heck kid?!” Sans snaps as soon as he has you back inside his house. “Why’d you try to leave?!”  
You look up at him and say you’re sorry that you tried to sneak away. But, you continue, you’ve done what he asked. You bathed, answered his questions, and went to Grillby’s. You have to go now.  
“Heh,” Sans laughs a little. “No you’re not. Actually, you know what you are?” The lock clicks on the door with a whisp of blue magic. “You’re grounded.”  
Both your’s and Flowey’s jaws drop.  
What?! He can’t ground you!  
“Yup.” Sans stretches, walking past you as you rush to the door and try to yank it open. “You’re so grounded that even coffee is jealous of you. So I’d work on that attitude you seem to have developed and chill out for a bit. You’re not going anywhere.”  
You yank on the door with Flowey’s help before looking back, exasperatedly, at Sans. Didn’t he want to get back to the surface you demand.  
“I do, but not really in a rush.” Sans shrugs, sitting on the couch and pulling out his phone. “And with how weird you’re being? Seems like there’s bigger issues to deal with.”  
You shake your head and tell him he’s being unfair.  
“No, you’re lying.” Sans replies as you hurry around the couch to face him. “You’re dodging my questions. You barely ate. You’re the one who’s not being fair when I’m trying to help you.”  
You stare incredulously at him for a second before sitting on the couch with your arms crossed.  
“If you keep pouting your face will stick.” Sans chuckles as you sit silently.  
You ask him if he’ll let you leave.  
“Gonna actually answer my questions?” Sans asks.  
Yeah, fine, you tell him.  
“How’d you die?” Sans asks the question again.  
You sit silently and look at Flowey pleadingly.  
“That slime ball Gaster killed us both!” Flowey snaps angrily. “After you turned to dust he flung us around like rag dolls and incinerated us with one of your trashy blasters!”  
That had not what you’d been hoping Flowey would say…  
“What?” Sans was suddenly sitting up and looking at you with narrowing eyes. “Gaster KILLED you?”  
You nod and then shrug, a sad smile lighting your face. Doesn’t really matter does it? You think to yourself.  
“I’m going to crack his skull.” Sans mutters furiously under his breath. “I warned him not to hurt you. I warned him I’d hunt him down wherever he hid.”  
You tell Sans to forget about it, it didn’t matter now. What’s his next question?  
“Of course it matters!” Sans snaps. “He shouldn’t have done that! He shouldn’t have put you through that when you’d already gone through”  
You meet his eyes defiantly and cut him off. It wasn’t as though every monster you’d ever met hadn’t tried to kill you at some point, Gaster’s just no different from the rest. Your voice is hard, a familiar presence awakening as your anger blooms. It wasn’t as though every person you had ever met hadn’t either tried to hurt, kill, or use you. Why was Gaster any different?  
“Kid…” Sans’ expression slackens as you snap at him.  
Even now, you continue angrily, you’re being used. Flowey’s only helping you because you can get him what he wants. The monsters only want you to break the barrier. Sans only wants to control you because he knows that you control the RESET. Gaster only helped you at all because he wants to escape the void.  
You point angrily at Sans and say he has no right to ground you, to keep you here, when all you’re trying to do is break the barrier for everyone again. He didn’t have any right to control you considering the dozens of times he’d killed you and the times when he had stood by and watched you suffer through endless deaths. How was this time any different then the last, you demand. Because he’d suddenly decided to get off his lazy butt and help you? Well, you don’t need his help. In fact, you didn’t need anyone’s help. It wasn’t like you’d ever needed it to get to Asgore before.  
You turn sharply towards the door and ask Flowey to open it for you.  
“With pleasure.” Flowey grins twistedly, summoning his friendliness pellets.  
They shoot at the door and it shatters to bits as Sans gets to his feet.  
You look back and, seeing Sans’ expression, hurry onward. Your friend’s face had been so sad, so guilty…  
You run towards Waterfall and up ahead see the distant figure of Papyrus. This time, you wouldn’t be taken to the human capture zone also known as the skele-bros’ garage.  
The anger that had bloomed in your chest lashes out as you pass Papyrus. The tall skeleton sees you coming and a bright smile lights his face.  
“HUMAN!” Papyrus calls.  
You run straight past his confused expression and into Waterfall. The anger made your pulse thrum in your ears and you push on, running as hard as you can. Getting the maze of bridges you come to a skidding stop as blue spears shoot up around you.  
“Shit.” Flowey hisses as the armor clad form of Undyne looks down at you from the bridges above you.  
You tell Flowey to shoot as many of the pellets as he can at her while you run. The flower eagerly accommodates your request and shoot waves of friendliness pellets at the Captain of the Royal Guard.  
You run as hard as you can through the maze of bridges to the end and look back. Over the ledge you knew that the dump was below. From there you would have to take the path upward towards Blooky’s house.  
Metal footsteps stomp towards you and you look back to see Undyne marching towards you.  
You tell Flowey to be ready before you leap.  
“WHAT THE HECK?!” Flowey yells as you fall towards the dump.  
You hit something hard then splash and sink. Struggling you reach for anything that you can grab onto.  
You hold your breath as long as you can, reaching as high for anything to pull yourself back up. The air flees your lungs and your mouth opens wide, the disgusting water of the dump flooding into your lungs.  
The world begins to fade as something latches onto your wrist.


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Critiques pwease :3

“YOU IDIOT!” Flowey seeths as you cough out the water you had swallowed. “WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT BRILLIANT PLAN?!”  
You fall onto your back, laying againstthe small patch of golden flowers that usually broke your fall. You hadn’t realized that, just a few feet to the left of the flowers, that the water was that deep. But then again, you reason, you’d never gone that way before.   
“DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TROUBLE IT WOULD BE IF YOU HAD TO RESET ALL THE WAY BACK IN SNOWDEN WOODS?!” Flowey continues his furious shouting at you. “YOU’RE THE BIGGEST IDIOT IN THE WORLD FRISK! ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING?!”  
You nod and smile at Flowey before saying thank you. You tell him you hadn’t known that the water was that deep over there but now you did. You tell him there’s a save point ahead that you can use if he’s ready to go?  
“Tch…” Flowey scowls at you then sighs. “Yeah, let’s go… Idiot.”   
You get up and begin to make your way through the dump. At least all you had to face right now was a dummy with serious anger issues, you could handle that. You’d done this all before, how bad could it be?  
“So…” Flowey drones as you SAVE. “Trashbag had that coming.”  
You ask him what he means?  
“You know, you blowing a gasket on him.” Flowey says. “Kinda really had that coming. I mean, I’ve followed you through every run you’ve done down here and he was following you too. He watched you die each time and did nothing. He coulda intervened.”  
You shrug and tell him that he could have as well.  
“Yeah, but I don’t pretend like I’ve always been behind you.” Flowey replied, his smile going wicked. “I’ve always been self serving, I don’t think I’ve ever tried to deny that.”  
You laugh a little as you continue onto the dump, looking for the cooler chest.   
“Besides, a lot of times he’d laugh.” Flowey adds off handedly.  
You spot the cooler chest as you ask what he means? Sans is always laughing and smiling.  
“I mean when you’d die.” Flowey tells you with a wide grin. “He’d watch you struggle and die over and over again. Even in the last run when you’d don everything right. He’d watch you die over and over and over again and just chuckle. I think I even heard him say that it served you right a few times.”  
Your soul throbs as you open the chest and take the three astronaut foods out. It hurts, as though it’d been struck by one of Undyne’s spears. You try to laugh it off and say that you’re sure everyone would agree with Sans if they remembered everything you’d done…   
The truth of your words makes your soul hurt so much that you have to take a knee in the dump water. Clutching the edgeof the cooler you try to breath.   
It hurts…  
Your soul hurts so much….  
“Hey, Frisk?” Flowey pokes you with a vine. “You okay? What’re you doing?”  
You take another deep breath and get up, the pain in your soul subsiding.   
Sorry, you tell Flowey before continuing on.   
As you pass the dummy that you’d have to fight you sigh. Just dodge, dodge, and dodge. That’s all you had to do.   
The dummy suddenly moving and blocking your way out of the dump didn’t even faze you this time and you stood patiently waiting for his tirade.   
It didn’t come however… Instead…  
“Frisk...” The broken voice of Gaster echoed from the dummy. “Come… Here…”  
Both you and Flowey pale and you look back. There was nothing but a dead end behind you… The only way was forward. But…  
“Please…” It wasn’t what you’d been expecting from Gaster.  
You shake your head and tell him you just want to break the barrier again.  
“I… Help…” The broken voice seems to grow weaker. “Please…”  
“You just killed us!” Flowey snaps, summoning his friendliness pellets. “Run Frisk! I’ll keep this dummy back!”   
You’re trembling though. You’re afraid of Gaster. You’re afraid of what he would do to you. Numbly you step forward and rest a shaking hand on the dummy’s head.  
You’re suddenly staring into the voice, a bodiless hand on either side of your voice.  
“The timelines can be merged.” Gaster’s face is before you. “I’m bringing them back together. As you move through them they’re becoming maliable. Slow your progress so that I can pull them together.”  
You want to shake your head but you can’t.  
“I am sorry that you’re afraid of me.” Gaster’s face is tinged with sadness. “But you cannot waste this opportunity. Stay DETERMINED, your DETERMINATION is countering Chara’s enough for me to bring all the timelines together.”  
Your vision shakes and you’re suddenly back in the dump, staring straight at the very disoriented Angry Dummy.   
You bolt past the dummy and up the ramp that lead towards Napsiblook’s house.   
“What the heck was all that about?!” Flowey snaps, visibly shaken as you rush out of the dump.  
You shake your head as your body trembles out of fear. What was that? What do you do now?   
After a second you shake yourself out of your fear and keep moving. You stop at the SAVE point in front of Napsiblook’s house and make a new file.   
“Was that who I think it was?” Flowey asks, his eyes scanning all around you as you save.  
You nod and tell him what Gaster had said, about merging the timelines and your DETERMINATION.  
“I say we bolt then.” Flowey says decisively. “What if he wants you to slow down so that it’s easier to catch up to us?”  
You partly agree, you don’t want another run in with Gaster. But another, smaller, part of you thinks that you should listen to him. You tell Flowey that Gaster is able to find you anywhere you go. If you directly disobey you then… Well, he’d killed you once. If you disobey him he’s more likely to do it again before you can break the barrier.  
Flowey goes silent at your words.   
You turn towards Napsiblook’s house, maybe you could rest there? Just for a little bit to regain your strength. You remember how on several runs you’d listened to music and fell into the universe with the ghost. It seemed like such a nice idea, laying with your friend and letting the world swirl around you.   
As you go to knock on the ghost’s door your hand freezes. No, you couldn’t…  
If you were kind and made friends with Napsiblook, any monster, what would happen after you gave your soul to Flowey? They might miss you, they might be in pain, and that’s the last thing you wanted. Pulling your hand back you turn back down the path and decided that you’d rest once you got to Hotlands.  
You ask Flowey what he was going to do once he had your soul?  
“Haven’t thought of that.” The flower sits back on your shoulder and seems to consider it. “I guess I’ll see what I feel like. What ever it is it’ll be fun.” He grins wickedly at you. “Looking forward to being done with all this?”  
You give him a thin, grim, smile and nod. You tell him that your only hope is that your friends won’t miss you.  
“Eh, they don’t even know you in this timeline.” Flowey shrugs his vines.  
You remind him what Sans had said about monsters starting to remember.  
“Yeah, I don’t believe anything that trashbag says and you shouldn’t either.” Flowey replies. “He was just trying to keep you under his thumb so that he could control the RESETs. You said it yourself, he was only ever trying to “help” you because he wanted to control you.”  
You go silent, the flower’s words making your soul aching dully. You’re suddenly very tired as you reach the first of the dark rooms. Moving carefully you make your way through the rooms carefully and manage to get through just fine until the temmies…  
“Hoi!” The temmie says excitedly, blocking the path. “I’m Temmie!”   
“You’re dead if you don’t move!” Flowey yells at the cat like monster. “Move!”  
The Temmie excitedly walks all around and over you, it’s legs stretching tall over you.  
You pull out one of the astronaut meals and offer it to them with a friendly smile.  
“Furd!” The temmie is beside themselves they’re so excited.  
As the temmie devours the food you make a break for it and run the rest of the way through the room.   
“You know they’d’ve run if you’d just hit them once.” Flowey grumbles. “They’re all cowards.”   
They also didn’t mean you any harm, you reply calmly, they’re just hungry most the time.  
“Yeah, whatever.” Flowey mutters. “You’re pacifism better not be contagious. I don’t want to turn into a soft dult like you when I take your soul.”  
You laugh at that, the noise echoing off the stone walls as you approach the final corridor before Hotlands. Taking a deep breath you brace yourself if Undyne is there. You hadn’t seen her as you’d passed the long bridge where Monster Kid usually met up with you. You hope that you’re ahead of them, enough to avoid them.   
You take advantage of the SAVE point and create another file, just in case... You’re too close to the end of your journey for something to not go wrong. Just as you closed the SAVE point you heard the heavy metal steps.  
You take a deep breath, mentally steeling yourself. You just had to dodge. If you had to you could fight back with Flowey’s help until Undyne was weak enough that you could get away.  
“Hey!” Undyne’s voice makes you bristle, anger flaring in your stomach. “Stop right there!”   
You sigh, a small laugh escaping your mouth.  
“Undyne has company.” Floey tells you, looking back. “They’re coming closer.”  
You feel your anger flare hotter. All you were trying to do was help them… And all these monsters could think of doing was killing you. How had you ever been friends with them? Your genocide runs begin to make sense in your mind. You quickly shake yourself of that though as you turn to face Undyne.   
Flowey was right, she wasn’t alone.  
With her was Papyrus and Sans, all their eyes locked on you. Your fists clench.  
You call that a true hero wouldn’t need backup to fight a single little kid.  
“Listen here runt!” Undyne snaps as she marches heavily towards you. “I don’t know what kinda game you’re playing but-”  
You don’t hear the rest as Flowey shoots his friendliness pellets at the entire group and you bolt down the tunnel.   
You yell for Flowey to keep the assault on them up as you run ahead. Undyne was usually faster than you but even she was slowed down by a constant barrage of pellets.   
“HUMAN!” Papyrus’ voice calls after you as you run. “PLEASE! WAIT! WE WANT TO HELP!”   
You shoot a glare back at them before yelling that you don’t need help and that you’ve never needed help.  
Sans teleporting just ahead of you surprised you but not Flowey as the flower threw you both up into the air with his vines. You stumble, your ankle cracking painfully, landing on the other side of Sans but you push on. If you could just get to Hotlands.  
Ahead of you blue bones shoot up from all around the walls, floor, and ceiling creating a barrier. You bite your tongue and press on harder.   
“HUMAN!” Papyrus’ voice shouts as Undyne yells: “Kid!”   
A scream rips out of your throat as you run through the dozens of blue bones and costs you 15 health. You stumble to your hands and knees, your vision wavers, and you gasp your body trembles.   
“IDIOT!” Flowey snaps at you. “Get up! They’re coming!”   
You try so hard, stumbling to your feet and managing to run a few steps before your ankle gives out and you begin to fall.  
Something flashes in front of you and a pair of arms catch you before you hit the ground.  
“We’ve gotcha kiddo.” Sans’ voice is very soft as you’re lowered to the ground. “Undyne, mind shutting that weed up so that we can get them to Alphys?”  
You tell them to leave Flowey alone. You ask them to leave you both alone…  
“ABSOLUTELY NOT HUMAN!” Papyrus says, picking you up as Undyne snatches Flowey from your shoulder and slaps a large bandaid over his mouth to quiet him. “YOU’RE HURT! WE CAN’T JUST LEAVE YOU LIKE THIS!”  
“Even if it’s your own fault for running through the bones.” Undyne snaps at you as they begin to walk down the tunnel, Papyrus carrying you, as she shoves Flowey into a small bag. “What the heck were you thinking?! Running through those?! You know that blue means stop!”   
You stubbornly go quiet, burying your face into the turtleneck of the drying sweater and refusing to say anything else.   
“Are you mute now or something?!” Undyne snaps at you as you all get closer to Hotland. “I’m asking you a question brat!”   
“I DON’T THINK THAT THE HUMAN IS FEELING WELL UNDYNE.” Papyrus offers with an uneasy smile and hugs you tightly to his torso. “HUMAN! I LIKE THE TURTLENECK YOU’RE WEARING! IT LOOKS VERY NICE ON YOU!”  
“It’s yours Paps.” Sans says, glancing up at you. “Lent it to them.”  
“IT LOOKS VERY NICE ON THE HUMAN!” Papyrus says as you all enter into the Hotlands.  
Undyne sweats profusely in her armor and you all have to stop at the water cooler for a minute so that she can get something to drink.   
The warmth of the sweltering air and feeling safe as you’re carried by Papyrus lull your eyes gently closed. You try, you try with all your might, to stay awake.   
But….  
You’re so tired.   
This, by far, has been the worst nightmare of them all.


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER FREAKING WARNING!!!  
> VIOLENT SHIZ HAPPENS!  
> .  
> .  
> .  
> Also, do you people realize how many, MANY, times I had to go back and RE-FIGHT PHOTOSHOP FLOWEY FOR THIS CHAPTER?!?!?!  
> TOO MANY!  
> Enjoy :)

“I-It sh-shouldn’t be l-like that!” Alphys’ worried voice is the first thing you become aware of. “I-I don’t even kn-know how they’re a-alive!”   
The next is that you’re laying on something soft, a warm blanket over you, air conditioning cooling your face. Then the sounds of computers, someone typing, hushed voices talking somewhere away from you.  
“I WILL END YOU!” Flowey’s furious roar is what snaps your eyes open.   
It’s dark where you are but, the moment you sit up the lights click on. You’re in the Alphys’ room, the upstairs portion of the lab. Not the true lab, to your chagrin, but at least you’re almost where you wanted to be.   
You look around and notice that your ankle felt a lot better. Pulling up your health bar you find that you’re at 15/20. Sighing you reach for your items but find that they’re missing. You grimace and get out of bed. Your shoes are gone too so, barefooted, you take the moving walkway to the escalator downstairs.  
“Tell us why they’re soul is messed up weed.” Sans’ angry voice snaps as you descend the stairs. “Is this why they’re acting like a prepubecent little shit?”  
“BITE ME!” Flowey’s retort makes you smile slightly, the flower would never change and of that you’re sure.   
You politely ask that no one hurt Flowey, calling it down the escalator. Three figures appear at the end of the escalator and you hear and electric door open in the other room.  
You greet Undyne, Papyrus, and Sans as you arrive at the bottom of the escalator.   
“You’re you feeling runt?” Undyne asks as they all stare at you like you’ve got a second head or something.  
You shrug and tell them that you’re kinda annoyed that they got in your way but better since they brought you to the lab since this was where you were headed anyway.   
“How’s your health?” Sans asks.   
You pull it up to show them, still 15/20.  
“HUMAN!” Papyrus whisks you up in his arms and hugs you tightly. “WHY DIDN’T YOU STAY WITH SANS IN SNOWDEN SINCE YOU’RE SO HURT?!”  
You ask what he’s talking about and point out that you only got hurt because you had to run through blue bones as Sans and Undyne both freeze.  
“Paps, put them down okay?” Sans asks his brother with a worried expression. “Remember what Alphys said, bout their condition and all.”  
You frown and look between them all as Alphys comes out of the elevator. What condition?  
Papyrus puts you down as Alphys hurries up to you.  
“H-Hello Frisk.” Alphys smiles at you. “A-Are you f-feeling better?”  
You nod and thank them before pointedly asking where Flowey is.  
“O-Oh, I made sure he was comfortable d-downstairs.” Alphys explains. “D-Do you know a-about your s-soul?”  
You nod, turning towards the elevator and walking directly towards it.  
“Wait!” Undyne blocks your path as a boney hand grabs your shoulder. “Where do you think you’re going?!”  
Downstairs to the True Lab to get Flowey. You then explain that you’re going to take the second elevator down there up to Asgore’s castle and finish this.  
“Kid, wait.” Sans tells you, his voice serious. “I know you’re in a rush but just wait a minute alright? You’re hurt and we’re trying to help you.”   
You sigh and face him. You tell him you know your health is a little low, but if they hadn’t taken your items then you’d be fine.  
“O-Oh sorry about that.” Alphys says and rushes to her fridge. “W-We thought y-you’d be m-more comfortable. I-I kept th-them safe for you.” She returns the three astronaut foods and monster candies. “Would y-you like some n-noodles?”  
You gratefully take your items back and tell her you’d love that before thanking her.   
“I’ll make it.” Undyne says. “Come on Paps, help me out.”  
“OF COURSE!” Papyrus grins widely and rushes to the fridge with Undyne.  
“W-Well if they’re d-doing that.” Alphys shuffles over to the large observation screen and pulls up what looks like a scan of your soul. “Y-You can see this a-alright?”  
You nod as Sans stands beside you, his hand still on your shoulder like he’s afraid you’ll try to run away. There are what looks like two large lines un your soul, both a deep red. One cuts your soul from the very center and veers downward just missing the the bottom point by fractions. The other cut looks like it splintered off from the large one and cut downward as well. Your soul is divided into three pieces by the lines one of which was almost half your soul, the other a solid third, and then the little sliver.  
“Th-These are fractures.” Alphys explains, circling the fractures on the screen. “Th-They’re very d-dangerous.”  
You think for a moment and remember Gaster examining them before nodding at telling her that you know about them.  
“Why didn’t you tell anyone then?” Sans asks, “There are dangerous kid!”   
You tell him that they haven’t really caused you any problems.  
“F-Frisk…” Alphys looks uncertainly at you. “If y-you were a m-monster you’d b-be dead. Th-These f-fractures a-are fatal.”  
You look up at the screen again and feel the sudden urge to laugh. A giggle escapes your mouth and suddenly you burst out laughing. You can’t help it. You double over laughing. Of all the stupid…  
You laugh as understanding dawns on you. The four monsters around you stare at you as though you’d gone mad.   
“Eh, kid?” Even Sans seems nervous. “Mind telling us what’s so funny? We’re missing the punch line.”  
You’re still laughing, sinking to your knees, but manage to get out that your soul won’t break. You won’t die from this. Because…  
YOU’RE…  
TOO…  
DETERMINED…  
It’s hilarious. The very thing that kept you alive. That kept your soul from shattering. That kept you going before.   
Your DETERMINATION to finish this all was keeping you alive.  
Your DETERMINATION to break the barrier so that you can just give up on the world was the very thing that was keeping you from giving up!  
It was hilarious.  
“ALPHYS?” Papyrus, holding a steaming bowl of noodles, looks at her confused. “WHAT DOES THE HUMAN MEAN? GIVING UP?”  
There’s a heavy silence as your laughter subsides. You smile up at Papyrus and ask him if the noodles are ready?  
“OH, YES.” Papyrus smiles and gives them to you. “THEY ARE PLAIN, WE DID NOT HAVE MUCH TO WORK WITH, BUT SHOULD BE DELICIOUS AS I AM A MASTER CHEF!”  
You smile and take the bowl, assuring Papyrus that you remember.  
“NYEH?” Papyrus looks confused. “HOW DO YOU REMEMBER? I’VE ONLY JUST MET YOU.”   
Your head shoots up at this and you look around at everyone. You ask if any of them remember you?  
“Kinda?” Undyne looks at you confusedly. “I know that I know you. I swear I do, I just can’t put my finger on it. I know some how that you can fight, you’re actually really good at fighting, but you’re my friend and a complete wimp.”  
“NYEH YES!” Papyrus grins at you. “I ALSO REMEMBER YOU BUT I CANNOT REMEMBER EXACTLY HOW I REMEMBER YOU. ONLY THAT YOU’RE MY FRIEND, YOU LOVE MY SPAGHETTI AND PUZZLES, AND THAT I WANT TO HELP YOU.”  
“I-I think you l-like anime?” Alphys offers.  
You look at Sans who shrugs.  
“I dunno what to tell ya.” He sighs. “Look, it’s been a long day. How about you eat that and we can go home?” Sans offers you a casual, comforting, smile. “Paps can make spaghetti for us. We’ll watch MTT a bit. You can heal up and then we’ll all go to Asgore together. That’ll give Toriel time to talk him down and we’ll work it all out. How’s that sound baby bones?”  
You want so badly to say yes. You want to just crash on their couch and spend lazy days wondering around Snowden. You want to pretend like   
Your DETERMINATION to end this waivers.  
You shake yourself before clenching your jaw. No, you’d decided to finish this and finish it the right way. You’re going to break the barrier and give Flowey your soul so that Chara will be contained and Asriel can come back. You’re going to give him your soul so that you don’t have to do this ever again.  
You eat the noodles quickly before thanking everyone. You smile and tell them how badly you want to say yes and just go back to Snowden with everyone right now and red. But you can’t, you explain. The barrier needs broken and the monsters deserve to be free, you tell them, and you’re not going stop until that’s accomplished.  
“But that’ll…” Alphys looks up at Undyne as Sans sighs and Papyrus looks between everyone confused. “F-Frisk you’ll have t-too…”   
You shake your head and tell her that there’s another way. That’s why you need Flowey.   
“The kid’s plan is pretty solid…” Sans finally says with a resigned sigh. “Alphys, do you really have an elevator down stairs to Asgore’s castle?”  
Alphys freezes before she nods.  
“Then we’re going together.” Sans looks you in the eye. “Got it?”  
You nod quietly and smile softly.  
“WE’RE GOING TO GO SEE KING ASGORE?!” Papyrus’ eyes glint like stars.   
“Yup, looks that way…” Sans sighs. “Undyne, cod you lend us a fin?”  
“One more fish pun and I’ll end you shortie.” Undyne glares at him before a smile breaks out on her face. “Yeah, I’ll make sure none of the other guards give us trouble.”  
Relief begins to fill you as your friends pile into the elevator to go down to Alphy’s True Lab. You place a hand on the lizard monster’s shoulder and tell her that it’s okay, since she looks extremely nervous, and tell her that the amalgamates should be sent home with their families.  
Alphys’ face goes from confused to panicked.  
“H-How do y-you?” she asks as the others look at you both confusedly.  
You shrug and grin before telling her that her friends will still love her and that it was an accident.   
Alphys’ face goes red and and nods silently.  
As the elevator reaches the bottom Alphys leads you all to thenext elevator.  
“I-I have s-something to d-do.” Alphys says nervously as you all stand at the elevator. “I-I’l b-be back. I-I’ll g-get F-Flowey t-too.”With that she ran down the right hall way.  
“A-Alphys!” Undyne follows after her as you lean against the wall and watch tiredly.   
“UNDYNE WAIT FOR ME!” Papyrus follows as Sans comes to stand beside you.  
The hallway is quiet as you hear your three friends rushing off. You’d try to tidy up what you could before you finished everything.  
“You’re you feeling alright kid?” Sans asks.  
You tell him alright, tired, but you’re happy that this will all be over soon.  
“Yeah…” Sans’ expression is concerned as you slide to the floor and sit again the wall.  
A few moments of silence pass before Sans sits beside you and his arm rests across your shoulder.  
“How about you go to the monster school when we get Aboveground again?” Sans offers. “And I think I promised you nice cream? Yeah it’d been in another timeline but I do try to keep my promises.”  
You smile and lean against his hoodie. You tell him not to worry about it, not after all the promises you’d broken.  
“Yeah well…” Sans chuckles, squeezing you to him. “We’ve both broken promises… But it’s a new timeline now…” He ruffles your hair. “Let’s clean the slate, start over.” He grins at you and holds out his other hand. “Heya, I’m Sans.”  
You giggle and take his hand, telling him your name is Frisk, and you both shake.  
“Heh, nice to meet ya.” He winks, his grin more genuine than you’d seen it in a long time. “Tibia honest I think we’re gonna be great pals.”   
You begin to laugh before your smile falls, weren’t you planning to end all this? Weren’t you going to give Flowey your soul so that you didn’t have to go through any more pain?   
“What’s up?” Sans asks, shaking you a little.   
You glance up at him but can’t hold his gaze. Leaning against his side tiredly you ask him if you could rest a bit while the others got Flowey? Just for a little while.  
You doze for a while, sometimes rousing just enough to see Sans playing on his phone. Each time you’d rouse he’d give you a gentle squeeze and tell you that you could rest longer since the other’s hadn’t come back yet.   
A hideous moan echos from the hall to the left and startles you awake.  
“What the?!” Sans looks around groggily, seeming to wake up himself.   
Dread begins to crawl into your stomach. The hall to the left… That’s where the operating tables had been… There’d been an amalgamate in the sink of that room… Oh no.  
You shoot to your feet immediately and begin down the hall.  
“Hey kid!” Sans catches up to you. “Don’t’cha think going TOWARDS a shifty sound seems a bit, I dunno, boneheaded?”  
You shake your head and tell him it’s an amalagamate.  
“An amala-“ Understanding dawns on him. “Ah, the monsters that Alphys injected with DT…” He grimaces. “Go back and wait, I’ll take care of this.”   
You give him a questioning look and ask him why you can’t go with him.  
“Because I don’t really want to find out what happens if your HP gets too low with the state that your soul is in.” Sans replies. “I’ll go chat them up a bit and calm them down. Just wait by the vending machine for me, okay?”  
You nod and ask him to be careful, adding that you really don’t want to lose your Dunkle again. Your words make Sans smile before he heads deeper into the dark lab.  
Sighing, you head back to the lobby area where you wait.   
“Psst!” A voice hisses at you from the right of the elevator.  
You look around curiously, mentally preparing yourself for an amalgamate. Instead, a little golden flower sidles up along the wall to you.   
“Trashbag gone?” Flowey looks around the corner cautiously.  
You nod and tell him that there’s an amalgamate down the hall that Sans went to talk to.  
“Good.” Flowey sighs, relieved, before looking up at you with a grin. “Let’s go, the elevator’s right here.”   
You frown and say that the others wanted to come with you.  
“Yeah and?” Flowey gives you an exasperated look. “Come on! You want this done with don’t you?!”  
You hesitate before nodding and hitting the elevator button. The doors open instantly and you board with Flowey. The flower hits the floor button and the doors close.  
“They’re all serious nuisances.” Flowey says as the elevator rises. “I had to keep unlocking the doors for the amalgamates as soon as loudmouth, fish face, and Dr. Scales put them in just to keep those three busy. Nice work getting them to bring us here.” Flowey gives you a wide, twisted, grin. “Didn’t think you had it in you to trick them, though if you ever pull me through those blue bones again I. WILL. END. YOU.”   
You nod and then giggle slightly. You tell him that you won’t have the opportunity to do it again after this so he didn’t have to worry…  
“That’s true.” Flowey grins happily, crawling up your legs with his vines and sitting in your hands. “Did you say your goodbyes? Or are you just going to make me deal with them after I obsorb your soul?”  
You tell him you didn’t tell them what you’re planning.  
“Oh well.” Flowey sighs before his grin returns. “It won’t be a problem for me to deal with their hissy fits, I’ll be a God after all.” He gins widely. “I HOPE one of them tries to fight me. I’ll LOVE putting them in their place.”  
You ask Flowey not to kill any of your friends, as a favor, for you giving him your soul.  
Flowey glares at you before grumbling. “Fine, but I’m not promisinhg that I won’t knock them around if they deserve it.”   
You nod in understanding before asking Flowey if he remembered his last fight with you, when he’d been Asriel?  
“Duh.” Flowey rolls his eyes.  
You bring up how he’d said that your friends’ memories of you had been fading before you’d reached out for their souls.  
“Yeah.” Flowey’s expression goes dry. “You’re a real pain for doing that by the way.”  
You laugh a little as the elevator reaches the floor and the door opens. As you exit and walk through the familiar path you ask Flowey if he thought he could make them forget about you? After he’d taken your soul. You explain that you don’t want them to miss you.  
“Yeah, I guess.” Flowey says. “You’re asking an awful lot of me, ya know that?”  
You apologize and tell him that he’s getting your soul out of it so it seemed kinda fair.  
“Eh,” Flowey replies as you reach the judgement hall. “Bet you have some fond memories here!”   
You purse your lips and rush through the hall, keeping your eyes trained on the door ahead of you. That was one place you did not want to linger in.   
“Hey, distract Toriel and Asgore so that I can get the souls.” Flowey says as you walk down the corridor. “If you can, get them to leave all together. I know how I’m going to break the barrier and if they’re there it’s gonna get messy.”  
You nod as you approach the throne room you can hear people talking and distinguish the voices. Toriel and Asgore.  
“Oh course,” Asgore’s voice echoes to you as you reach the entrance. “I will spare the child if you just give me a chance again. If they are as pure and kind as you say then I will gladly.”  
You look up, holding Flowey in your hand, and see Toriel and Asgore standing facing one another before the throne.   
Flowey clears his thoat and both the King and Queen of Monsters look over at you surprised.  
“Asgore.” Toriel smiles, taking his hand and leading him towards you in the doorway. “This is Frisk.” Toriel explains. “The child who I’ve come to secure your MERCY for. Please, meet them.”   
You set Flowey on the ground and he pops out of sight, to get the souls you assume. Smiling up at the King and Queen of monsters, who you had once called mom and dad in a past timeline, you say hello and introduce yourself.   
“Howdy.” Asgore smiles at you. “Would you like a cup of tea?”  
You nod and think that, if this will be your last time with them then you’re going to enjoy it. It was the least you could do, enjoy your last few minutes with the only parents you’d known for a while now.   
Sitting among the flowers Asgore pours you each a cup of tea and smiles warmly.  
“Between the reports I’ve recieveed and Toriel’s testimony I must say it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Asgore says.   
You ask him what reports?   
As Asgore details the things you had done in your Pacifist run your brows furrow. You hadn’t done that stuff this time. On the last Pure Pacifist run you had, but not this time. No, wait, you did feed that one Temmie. But everything else…  
“I do hope you’ll accept my apologies for my people seeing as some of them attacked you.” Asgore explains a little nervously. “I will make a new decree once we finish our tea that you are not to be harmed. We’ll find a new way to break the barrier… My royal scientists will be told that a new way must be found.”   
Your head shoots up at that and you ask if he still has the six human souls?  
“Why yes.” Asgore nods. “I don’t know what we’ll do with them now though…”  
You smile and tell him that you know how to break the barrier and the monsters won’t have to take anymore souls. No one would have to take any souls ever again.  
“Really now?” Asgore and Toriel both look at you surprised.   
“My child…” Toriel looks at you with concern. “What is it you plan to do?”  
You smile and tell them that in Waterfall you read that all of the souls in the Underground together are as powerful as a single human soul. You also explain that you know that it takes both a human and monster soul to get through the barrier. If they could rally all the monsters to work together then, with the six human souls, the barrier should fall.  
“That’s brilliant!” Asgore exclaims, looking betweel you and Toriel excitedly. “If this works then… Together, humans and monsters, will be free.” He smiles appreciatively down at you and pets your head with one fuzzy hand. “You are a remarkable child, Frisk. The legend of the Angel of Mercy must have meant you.”   
Your smile becomes strained as you ask them if you could take a nap while they get the monsters? You’re very tired…  
“Oh, my poor child.” Toriel hugs you lovingly. “Of course you can rest. Would you like me to stay with you?”  
You shake your head and tell her that you’ll wait here while they get all the monsters. This is more important and you’re old enough to nap on your own.  
“We’ll be quick.” Toriel promises you, kissing your head, as Asgore removes the cloak from around his shoulders. “Asgore will you make sure that the guards know to keep Frisk safe?”  
Asgore nods and drapes his cloak over your small shoudlders.  
“We’ll be fast Frisk.” Asgore promises you with a wide smile, tears of joy brimming his eyes. “After all of this we can be a family. Toriel and I will raise and love you as our own. I promise.”   
The monster King’s promise shake your resolve as they hurry out of the room together. You hug yourself tightly in Asgore’s cloak, struggling with the decision you made, before letting go. This was the right decision. This was what was best for everyone. Flowey had said that he’d make everyone forget about you. You weren’t hurting anyone this time. You were doing everything you could to help everyone.  
You’re doing the right thing.  
As you enter the second to last corridor you hesitate again. Your feet seem to stop and your soul aches painfully.   
This is what’s best, you remind yourself, this was for everyone else.   
You look back towards the throne room as you approach the door that lead to the barrier, wishing you’d been able to give everyone a proper goodbye… You’d have told Papyrus that you loved his spaghetti and that he truly was great. Told Undyne that she’s a true hero and someone you’d looked up to in another time. You would have told Alphys that it was alright that she’d made mistakes and that everyone loved her for her. You’d have told Mettaton that he truly was the brightest star that you’d ever seen. You would have thanked Toriel for being the best mom in the world. Told Asgore that he was a great King and that he deserved to be happy. You would have thanked Sans for everything he’d done and tried to do for you. You would have apologized for the hurtful and mean things you’d said. You would have told them all that you wish there was another way…  
You take a decided step forward and into the coridoor that lead to the barrier. The seven containers that had once held six human souls were shattered and all around you the walls were covered in vines.  
“Howdy!” Photoshop Flowey’s massive television head lowers in front of you, his insane smile in place. “it’s me! Flowey the Flower!”   
You sigh and ask him what to do now.  
“Well, I can either take all the monster souls or…” His face flashes through a maddening sequence. “Or I can take yours. You don’t mind,” Vines all around you wrap snatch you, wrapping from your shoulders to your ankles tightly. “Do you? Its not like you had plans after this any way.”   
The vines are so tight that breathing is hard and you have to force your eyes open. You repeat the deal. If you give him your soul he’ll break the barrier and won’t hurt your friends?  
“Oh, I was just thinking about that.” Flowey giggles. “It think, once I have your soul, I’m going to do whatever I damn well please.”   
Your eyes widen and you say he can’t do that! He promised! He promised he’d break the barrier and spare your friends in exchange for your soul!  
“And now I’m breaking it.” Flowey laughs. “Haven’t I told you a million times by now? In this world it’s” The vines tighten painfully around you and you cry out as you feel bones begin to crack. “KILL. OR. BE. KILLED.”  
A rush of heat flies past you and Flowey cries out in pain as you fall from his vines. A flash of blue surrounds you and someone’s caught you. A flurry of spears and bones fly overhead and a fight sequence comes up.   
“ARE YOU ALRIGHT HUMAN?!” Papyrus’ voice startles you as he runs you behind the fight sequence.   
Your eyes go wide as you see Asgore, Toriel, Sans, and Undyne forming a line against Flowey. You ask what’s going on.  
“THE KING AND QUEEN FOUND US LOOKING FOR YOU AND BROUGHT US UP HERE!” Papyrus explains with a wide grin . “YOU SHOULD HAVE WAITED FOR US HUMAN! YOU COULD HAVE BEEN VERY BADLY HURT!”  
“Bro!” Sans’ voice draws Papyrus’ attention and the tall skeleton is able to dodge a flurry of vines shooting directly at you both.   
“DR. ALPHYS IS CALLING FOR HELP!” Papyrus says, setting you down next to the door which was now covered in vines. “STAY BEHIND ME HUMAN! I WILL NOT LET THEM HURT MY FRIEND!”  
Your eyes go wide as you hide behind Papyrus and watch in horror as your friends fight Flowey. He was so strong, too strong, for even them to beat together. The human souls wouldn’t respond to them and they didn’t reach out to them as you had. They fought Flowey, who was as powerful as a God, with all their might to no avail.   
Something bangs against the door sealed with vines. You look between it and your friends battling as Papyrus summons dozens of bones to create a shield protecting you both. Sweat begins to bead on the tall skeleton’s skull as he holds the wall protecting you both as your friends battle on. Something bashes against the door again and it crumbles.   
A bright laser shoots through and hits Flowey square in his television. Catchy music begins to play from somewhere as Mettaton leaps into the room, the vines covering the hole in the door quickly as other monsters could be heard outside.  
“Never fear darlings!” Mettaton enters the fight with a dazzling flourish. “The Star has arrived!”  
There’s a momentary pause where everyone looks at Mettaton before Flowey’s face grimaces furiously.   
“You’re dead.” He says furiously. “YOU’RE ALL DEAD!”  
You watch as your friends struggle on against Flowey. Even with Mettaton’s help they’re getting worn down.   
“I HAVE TO HELP THEM HUMAN!” Papyrus says the other boss monsters struggles escalate. “S-STAY BACK HERE! YOU’LL BE SAFE!”  
You nod, curled behind the shield of bones that he’d erected for you, and Papyrus leaps into the battle. Realization soon dawns on you that… They can’t win.  
These monsters are your friends, they’re your family. You’d come here with the intent to end it all. You knew, deep down that you couldn’t trust Flowey but you’d thought… Because he’d been Asriel that you could. But Flowey was a different person… Devoid of love and compassion. He couldn’t understand what they were so desperately fighting for.   
They’re fighting for someone they love. They’re fighting to protect you. Because they love you.  
And they’ll die if you don’t do something.  
You insert yourself into the fight sequence, yelling that you knew what to do and for the other’s to get back!  
“You cannot defeat him my child!” Toriel tells you as she uses her flame magic to block an onslaught of cicadas. “Get back! We will protect you!”  
“You’re not strong enough twerp!” Undyne yells as you move to the center infront of them.   
“Kid get back!” Sans yells at you.  
You spread your arms and tell Flowey you’re here and to come and get you.  
Vines shoot around you and your friends are shoved back against the wall as a familiar fight begins.   
“I owe you a HUGE thanks.” Flowey cackles as his vines trap your friends against the far walls. “If it hadn’t been for you bringing me here and distracting everyone I would have never gotten these souls back!” He grins madly. “It feels so good to have them back and now, you get to join them!” He giggles, the noise of an insane person making your hair stand on end. “Afterall, that’s what you wanted right? To die? Don’t worry partner!” He rises so that you can see the horrific creature that he was. “I’m going to kill you just like I promised! Over and over and OVER AND OVER AGAIN!”   
Your friends call out to you but their voices are muffled. You yell back to them, keeping your eyes on Flowey, that you’ll be alright and don’t worry. You know what you’re doing.   
You’ve been through this before.   
You first dodge the flames that shoot at you, the smoke making you stumble as stars begin to fly all around you. You take heavy damage from the stars but keep moving as vines whip you across the room like a tennis ball back and forth between each other.   
You barely have time to get your footing and when you do you dive for the FIGHT button. You deal 1 damage to the flower but you’d expected this.   
As you dodge Flowey’s friendliness pellets your and stars you feel everything change around you. Swords swing at you from all angles and you scream for help. Your soul resonates with a human soul inside Flowey and you feel your health regain as the swords disappear.   
You’re suddenly being thrown around by explosions, stars striking you from all angles, and then the vines come again. Your health hits zero.  
Maniacal laughter fills the darkness and you’re suddenly thrust back into the fight. Flowey had RESET to just before you’d died and you have to grin as a plan forms in your head. You dodge the explosions and vines that try to strike you and are thrown back towards where your friends are trapped.  
“Kid…” “My Child…” “Frisk…” “HUMAN?”  
The horror in their voices as they watch you struggle makes your soul ache and you smile back at them. You give them a thumbs up as a vine grabs your ankle and flings you around the room. You’re slammed against the wall over where the Boss monsters are being held and fall to the ground, your health nearing zero again. Just as you get back up the room goes black and you can’t see your friends again. If they can see you, you don’t know…  
Magic hands dance towards you and you call out for help. Another soul resonates within Flowey for you and you can feel hands helping you back to your feet and your health recovering.   
You’re ready for Flowey this time as the blackness fades away and run at him, slamming down on the FIGHT option. Vines shoot at you violently as Flowey roars furiously. You dodge and strike before you’re thrown back by stars.  
The room goes black again and dancing feet try to crush you under stars. You can feel the soul waiting for your call and you beg them for help.   
Your call for help is met by gentle music that washes away your pain and exhaustion.   
Flung back into the battle you’re whipped around by cicadas that bite and fling you towards fly traps. You just barely manage to escape those before large poisonous spores with mouths bounce towards you. You manage to dodge them long enough to get one more strike against Flowey in before the stars fling you back.  
The room goes dark and flashes of slaughter, terror, murder and the likes of tear at your mind. You scream for help and a gentle soul reaches out to you.   
Memories of peaceful and loving times fill you with hope.  
You’re flung back as stars throw you against the wall. You just manage to roll out of the way as the vines try to impale you. Running as fast as you can you dodge the finger guns until you’re able to strike Flowey again.   
The room goes black again before you can take note of the damage and frying pans overhead slosh flames towards you. You cry out for help.  
A soul reaches out to you and items, delicious and well-seasoned, rain down upon you. You devour as much as you can, your health regenerating as the darkness fades away.   
A swarm of cicadas fly into you and you’re pulled towards a fly trap again. You reach for anything you can and your hand wraps around something hard. Looking up you see that you’ve grabbed onto a white bone. Blue spears shoot down the cicadas as they fly into the trap, trying to take you with them. You look back and see that, even though they’re trapped, your friends are trying to help you. Asgore and Toriel are keeping flames around them as a shield as Papyrus shoots bones up to block any of Flowey’s attacks that went astray.   
You’re thrown by the spores and your attention turns back to the battle. Striking the FIGHT button again you manage to damage Flowey, something the double digits you didn’t see, but you felt what you’d been hoping for. A spark in the back of your mind, something that only awakened when you were your most angry and most violent. You grin eagerly, trying to encourage the sensation in your mind.   
The room shifts to darkness again and a massive gun shoots at you enormous bullets. You dodge, adrenaline feeding the growing feeling inside you. Calling for help, asking the soul to stop, lets you recover enough health that you are able to dive out of the darkness.   
A wide, mad, smile spreads across your mouth as you tear out of the darkness, the six souls coming to your aid as you face Flowey again. But this time, his defenses have dropped.  
In your hands are two red knives as a familiar presence fills your mind.  
“About time, partner.” A voice giggles in your head.   
You FIGHT and FIGHT, raining attack after attack on Flowey. Your attacks are doing damage in the hundreds now.   
You don’t even feel the friendliness pellets as they tear through your sweater. The vines are nothing. The stars that had been throwing you around only push you back a little. His attacks do less and less damage and you and Chara fight in in sync with one another.   
His health is getting lower and lower, you can see that Flowey is becoming furious, and you laugh at him. Your laugher enrages the flower more and you can hear your friends cheering you on in the back. Their voices are muffled against the mad rush of DETERMINATION and adrenaline coursing through your system. The world becomes harsher in your vision.   
Attack. Attack. Attack! AtTaCk! ATTACK! ATTACK!!!   
You begin to scream with Chara as you press harder and harder. It was almost over. You could do this. You’d kill him. You’d make him pay for betraying you. You’d make him suffer for breaking his promise. YOU WOULD END THIS.  
Flowey’s health hits zero and you stop, breathing heavily as he screams.  
“No.......... NO!” Flowey screams as the screen flickers. “This CAN’T be happening!!!” The room tremors and you glance back at your friends before turning to face Flowey.   
The health bar pings and the room goes completely still as the flower grins at you.   
“You IDIOT.” Flowey grins.  
You clutch the knives tightly and prepare yourself. You can even feel Chara prepare themselves with an evil giggle.   
The blaster tears you apart to the core. You scream in agony as your soul shatters.  
Then… He reloads without a breath to spare.  
You’re ripped apart by the vines as your friends have to watch in horror.  
Reload.  
Burned to death by the lazer.  
Reload.  
Ripped apart limp by limp.  
Reload.  
Vaporized to ashes.  
Reload  
Torn to pieces.  
Reload.  
Burned.  
Reload.  
Ripped.  
Reload.  
Burned.  
Reload.  
Ripped.  
Reload.  
Burning.  
Reload  
Ripped.  
Reload.  
Burned down to a sliver of health.  
You rise to your feet defiantly, DETERMINED, as you’re surrounded by pellets.  
“Hee hee hee.” Flowey giggles. “Did you REALLY think…” The pellets inching closer. “You could defeat ME?!” They inch closer. “I am the GOD of this world!” They’re almost touching you. “I just LET you play around with your RESETS and HAPPY ENDINGS.” He laughs hysterically. “Your friends are there! They’re here and you’re STILL HOPELESS!” A pair of vines spin you around and lift you up. You’re rushed through the room towards your friends still trapped and shoved into each one of their faces. “THEY. CAN’T. SAVE. YOU. NO ONE CAN!” He laughs again before bringing you back so that you can see all of them. “And I’ve made them remember.” His face grows smug as you hang your head, refusing to look at them as the anger deep inside you grows. “That’s right Frisk. I’ve MADE them remember EVERYTHING. They’ll NEVER be able to forget what they just saw. They’ll NEVER FORGET what you’ve done to them.”  
Let them go, you say softly as the silent hall bears down on you.   
Flowey laughs as your friends try to talk to you.  
You finally look up at your friends.  
“I’m so sorry my child…” Toriel’s voice is so soft, so sad, that it almost makes your heart ache.  
“This burden should not have fallen onto you…” Asgore’s words were weak.  
“No one could beat this monster…” Undyne had never sounded so defeated before.  
Papyrus’ head was hung, tears pouring from his face.  
Mettaton’s eyes were wide and blank with horror.  
“Kid…” Sans finally croaks, his voice scratchy. “I’m so sorry… I didn’t know… This… You went through this… Alone…” His eye flashes brightly. “You’ve beaten him before. You’re not alone this time.” He holds your gaze with as much DETERMINATION as you’d ever seen a monster poses. “I believe in you kid.”  
A wide smile breaks out on your face, not entirely sane but also completely your own.  
“We HaVe A fEw TrIcKs LeFt.” You and Chara speak in unison.   
Your arms wring out as two massive blades of pure DETERMINATION cut the vines holding you.   
“CoMe On AzZy!” Chara screeches as you run at the flower. “ShOw Us WhAt YoU’vE gOt!”   
Chara was relentless and with your help unstoppable. You took every strike and beating, pushed with all your DETERMINATION, and fought with Chara as hard as you could. Together you both took on the god like Flowey and left him reloading for health.   
Your rage was Chara’s pleasure. Your pain was their fuel. Your hatred was their adrenaline. Your DETERMINATION was their drug.  
Finally, as you sever one of his massive arms from his body Flowey’s vines blocking the exit move and your friends are flung into the hall beyond.  
“There!” Flowey screams. “Happy?!”   
Your heart is beating with an insane pulse not your own. It takes a second for you to control Chara’s impulses enough to cease the onslaught. The blades in your hands fade away as your anger fades to nothing.  
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Chara screeches in your mind.   
You walk directly up to Flowey, the giant television beast flinching as you move closer. You thank him for letting your friends go as you pull your fractured soul out and examine it. The fractures were dark lines of a deep red unlike the rest of your brightly shining soul. You smile and hold it up to him.   
You say that real friends keep their promises and you would keep yours. Even if he didn’t keep his…  
You hold up your soul, offering it to him.  
“This…” Flowey backs away an inch. “This is a trap.”   
You shake your head.   
Seven souls, that’s all he needed to become Asriel again. All of the monster souls in the Underground is what it would take to make one human soul, that’s what it’d taken last time. But this time… You wouldn’t make the monsters suffer. You’d show them the most MERCY that you ever could.  
Your soul is snatched from you and swallowed as the world goes dark around you.


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not crying.   
> I didn't make myself cry with this chapter.  
> You folks better be happy because writing this made me feel things!  
> OMG WHY?!?!?!?!?!  
> Enjoy :D

It’s dark and the world shakes around you. You can feel Chara’s fear increase as a white light surrounds you and you realize that you’re a soul again.   
As you drift six other souls over varying colors rush up to you. They each brush against you in greeting. They’re excited to meet a new friend. Each one of them is another child’s soul. As the world changes you can feel Flowey’s dark world fade away and Asriel’s light take it’s place.  
Chara’s hollow soul clings to you but appears at the surface of your soul and the others greet them equally as excitedly as they had greeted you. As the souls brush up against you both you see flashes of memories, of happier times, of falling down to the Underground. You can feel their emotions, what had made them happy, what had made them sad. In exchange you share your memories and feelings.  
Eating pie with Toriel.   
Making Spaghetti with Undyne.  
Napping with Sans.  
Getting ice cream with Asgore.  
Driving down the highway with Papyrus.  
Watching anime with Alphys.  
Dancing with Mettaton.   
You shared all of this with them and your soul feel full with happy memories.   
The souls circle curiously around Chara, gently nudging them and sharing their happy memories.   
Chara’s soul shrinks into yours a bit more and you nudge them curiously.   
You wonder what their happy memories would be of?  
Chara’s soul lashes out and violent memories strikes all of the souls.  
Asriel being stabbed and beat by the humans of the village...  
A man… hurting them.  
A woman… hurting them.  
Another man in black… Hitting them.  
Memories of pain lash out and strike you.   
A boy their age playing a prank on them… And they fell…  
To the Underground.  
This is what Chara remembers, you realize, this is all that they can remember. People hurting them. People tricking them. People fighting them. People throwing them away.  
How could someone who’s only ever known that know how to love?  
You inch towards them cautiously and gently brush against them.  
You share a memory that Asriel had shared with you.  
When they’d fallen… Asriel had found them.  
Asriel loved them…   
They’d had a mother and father in Toriel and Asgore who loved them.  
They had once known love.  
That’s why…  
Chara had been willing to die for the monsters who had shown them more love than they’d ever known to free them.  
Chara had once known so much love that they had been willing to do anything for them.  
Chara had died for those they loved.  
Only to watch and suffer death again with the one that they had loved most.  
Only to die with Asriel.  
Except they hadn’t died.  
Neither of them had died.  
They’d been torn apart to suffer away from the one that they had most cared for.   
They’d been alone and in pain for so long that all they knew was that pain.  
Sunlight washes over the souls as you all see through Asriel’s eyes that the barrier was crumbling before him.  
The souls huddle around Chara’s as it ached in pain. You all shared with them memories of the love that you had all once knew. You all shared with Chara the love that you carried with you. The love that had made living worth suffering through.  
“I’m sorry.” Asriel’s voice is gentle and the child that Asriel had been appears before all of you. “I never meant to hurt you. Any of you.”  
The souls flurry to him, yours and Chara’s included.  
“I didn’t want to.” Asriel says, cupping his hands and letting Chara’s come to sit in them as you all floated around him. “Once the barrier’s gone… There’s someone who says he knows how to let you all go in peace.” He smiles, his eyes full of tears. “Even me. He said we can all go in MERCY and peace.”   
You look out through Asriel’s eyes again and see, standing beside him, is Gaster. In Asriel’s arms was your lifeless body.   
“It’s okay Frisk.” Asriel tells you. “If you don’t want to go back… I understand.” He smiles and kisses Chara’s soul. “You can come with us to whatever’s next. We can all go together.” The tears fall as he smiles brightly at you. “We’ll never be alone again if we go together.”   
You hover close to Asriel and land in his hands as well beside Chara.  
Looking out through Asriel’s eyes one more time you see the bright, rising, sun shining.  
Something rams into you and Chara’s soul begins to lash out violently. Whips of black mist, painful memories, slash at you all.   
“No!” Chara’s voice screeches. “I wOn’T gO! I wOn’T lEt YoU!”   
You rush to the other souls and begin to push them towards the sunlight, away from Chara’s soul as Asriel tries to calm them.  
The souls flutter towards the light and manage to escape as a large group while you look back. Asriel was on his knees, holding Chara’s soul close to him. You look back out towards the sunlight as the other souls fade into it.   
Asriel had taken to his knees out there too, clutching your body to his chest as he cried out in pain. Gaster moved before him, his palm-less hand dominating Asriel’s vision.  
Chara’s soul rushes into yours and it feels like claws are biting into yours. You look one more time at freedom, desperately trying to break free. Horrible, angry, violent poison leaks into your soul as the child Asriel grabs onto the other side of it.  
The fractures that had been deepening begin to crack as you try to pull desperately away which Chara and Asriel struggle over your soul.  
The pain is like nothing you had ever felt before as the fracture give and your soul is torn into three.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
You’re small.  
.  
.  
.  
You’re weak.  
.  
.  
.  
You’re not alone.   
.  
.  
.  
Blood slowly begins to move.  
You gasp and your lungs filling with air feels as though there’s a ton weighing on your chest.  
Your heart beats are like punches in your chest that make you cry out.  
Your voice crying is like nails being dragged on a chalkboard.  
Something warm and gentle, comforting, washes over you.  
“Its alright Frisk.” A broken voice murmurs softly to you. “I will give you my strength… There is still a little more to do before you can rest.”   
The gentle magic opens your eyes for you and your legs stand you upright without you having to try. Gaster lifts you in his arms and smiles at you. He holds you as the vines around the chamber die back and you hear people breaking through them. Before you lie the sleeping forms of Chara and Flowey, each in possession of a large part of your soul.  
You look down at your soul and see a small sliver, a fragment, of the once bright red heart in place. Around it there glowed bright purple magic making up the rest of the heart.  
“FRISK!” A desperate call rings through the chamber and you look up.  
You lean against Gaster’s shoulder as you watch your friends run towards you. What you see is strange and you wonder if it’s Gaster’s vision that you’re seeing through? What you see first is their souls, glowing brightly. As they draw closer you see them as you remember.  
“Partly.” Gaster explains, seeming to know what you were thinking. “I’ve stabilized your soul with my magic. You and I are connected for the time being.” He turns to greet your friends and the monsters behind them. “Your Majesties.” He bows his head.  
“Gaster.” Asgore says as the monsters stop around him. “Gaster!” The king seems relieved before his eyes fall on Chara and Flowey.  
“Frisk’s plan worked perfectly.” Gaster says clearly, as though the line were true. “In sacrificing themselves they were able to break the barrier and return to us what the humans had once taken. The heirs of our future, Asriel and Chara.”   
“M-My…” Toriel’s eyes are wide as though she were afraid.  
“They need your majesties now.” Gaster says and pulls out Frisk’s little soul. “Frisk’s soul shattered to give them pieces of it so that they could return… They will need your magic to stabilize their souls until they can recover.”  
“Yes, of course.” Asgore and Toriel both kneel beside their children, the ones that they had once lost, and pull them both close.   
You watch from your numb perch in Gaster’s arms as Asgore and Toriel heal them. Had this been your plan? You couldn’t remember.   
Your head moves without you meaning it to and you see that your other friends; Papyrus, Undyne, Mettaton, Alphys, and all of the monsters were in tears as the King and Queen healed the royal children. The only monster looking at you was Sans, his eyes very narrow.  
“I will go ahead with Frisk to prepare the humans for the arrival of our people, if it pleases your Majesty.” Gaster says.  
“Of course.” Asgore waves him off, clutching his children and wife to him as his magic whirls around them and tangles with Toriel’s. “Make the necessary preparations…”  
“Yes, your Majesty.” Gaster bows, a bodiless hand keeping you from tumbling from his arms.   
Gaster carries you out of the barrier and onto the ledge of Mt. Ebbott.   
“The timelines have all been brought back to one.” Gaster explains as he holds you up, both of you watching the sunrise. “I took the liberty of selecting the past from the timelines you had done. You gave me a lot of material to work with. Because the timelines were coming together I was also able to bring the fragments of myself from all of them into it and make my disappearance… Disappear.” He gives you a wide smile as your eyes stare blankly ahead. “I’ve never had the opportunity to study a human soul in growth, this should be quite an interesting study.” He takes a deep breath of mountain air. “I apologize for losing my temper in the void, it was not right of me.” Gaster says, turning his face back to the sun. “But I will do all I can to help you now. Your soul is too weak to sustain itself now and I sense no will to live within you.” A bodiless hand that’s palm-less center glows bright purple appears before you. “Until that returns I will keep your soul from disintegrating.” The hand presses against your chest and sinks into you. It’s a nauseating sensation but it feels like your soul is sitting in the palm of his hand. “I will protect you Frisk, I promise.”   
Your body slumps against his shoulder, whatever power that had been holding you upright fading and the heaviness of your body weighs you against him.   
“I will not abuse this power over you while your soul heals though.” Gaster assures you, turning towards the path. “You have the right to tell me when you do and don’t want my assistance. I will always listen to your wishes.”  
You want to nod but can’t, your answer though is not lost and you have the feeling that Gaster knows what you want to say.  
“Gaster!” It didn’t surprise either of you that Sans would be the first to chase after you.  
“Yes Sans?” Gaster asks as he continues to walk down the path with you in his arms.  
A flash of blue and Sans is suddenly before you both, blocking the way.  
“What did you do?!” Sans demands furiously.   
“Quite a lot actually.” Gaster says. “And there’s still more to do. Would you like to assist me?”  
“Tell me what you did.” Sans retorts. “Now! What did you do to Frisk?! How are the Prince and that Demon back?! What have you done to the timeline?!”  
“Ah, we’ll have to walk and talk I suppose.” Gaster sighs and continues on down the path. “Do keep up Sans. I don’t have time to dawdle. Now, to your first question I did nothing to Frisk. They fractured their soul when they repeatedly self terminated. They lost their will to live. They chose to forfeit their soul to the Prince who shattered it with the demon’s aid. I stabilized this child so that they wouldn’t die and has the chance to recover.” He turned towards the town. “The Prince and Demon were both still very much soulless beings. When they shattered Frisk’s they absorbed it and that provided enough for them to return. Frisk had the most DT of any human I had ever seen and the amount of DT that the pieces of their soul that Asriel and Chara took were more than enough to sustain them once more. Frisk, however, retained the smallest portion of their soul and therefore would have died without my intervention.” He paused as a car drove by before continuing down the main road of the down, not seeming to care how many people stared at him. “As for the timelines… When Frisk selected the TRUE RESET and not just a RESET it made the timeline maliable. I took the opportunity to bring as many of them together as possible and solidify the past so that it is something workable in our favor. What I needed was for the end to be cemented with the anomaly contained. I hadn’t realized that there had been two anomalies.” Gaster smiles down at Sans. “Luckily, Frisk’s soul shattered into three and two of the larger pieces have contained both anomalies.”   
Sans’ eyes are wide and narrow as he looks up at you and Gaster.  
“Are they…” He stops, seeming at a loss for words.  
Gaster takes San’s hand and walks him across the street towards the police station.  
“They’ll be fine in time.” Gaster says. “I have a theory about the human soul that should very much like to discuss with you in depth. But right now we’ve a delicate situation to handle and Frisk needs human medical attention.”   
You look down at Sans, your head moving on its own and your body no longer heavy as Gaster’s magic fills you.  
Gaster places you on the ground at the foot of the police station stairs and your hands take one of each of theirs’. Your body walks the three of you in smoothly and you go straight to the desk.  
“Sir?” Your voice is very soft as it speaks on it’s own, your hand ringing the bell there. “Can you meet my friends?”  
The Policeman sitting at the desk sits up and looks at the three of you, the blood slowly draining from his face.  
“I fell down Mt. Ebbott.” Your voice tells them as your face smiles. “And they helped me get back. Can you help our other friends?”


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, yeah I'm emotionally drained for a while.  
> Ya'll enjoy, I'm always excited for reader input!  
> THERE IS NO GASTER SMUT YOU FREAKING TROLL!  
> .... Maybe in another fanfic after I finish this one.  
> IDK. Not really in a smutty mood. Kinda leaning towards floofs right now.  
> YA'LL ENJOY THIS WORD VOMIT THAT MURDERED MY EMOTIONS!

At the police station Gaster had gone back to speak with the interviewers first and you’d waited in an interview room with Sans. The smaller skeleton would not let go of you and held you tightly as the police moved about doing their work. He’d even wrapped you tightly in his hoodie.  
“I’m so sorry Frisk.” Sans tells you as you sit silently, warmly bundled in the hoodie. “I promise, after all this… Whatever you want. You’re going to get better… We’ll find a way to fix your soul… Get you right as rain, won’t we?” He offers you a wide grin and, as your eyes travel on their own over him, you can see how absolutely terrified his is.  
It takes all of the strength you have left to smile up at him in return.  
“Everything’s gonna be alright baby bones.” Sans squeezes you in a tight hug. “I promise. I won’t let anything else happen to you.”  
Your eyes fall sleepily closed and you begin to doze before you know it.  
You can hear footsteps and Gaster’s broken voice.  
“Sans,” Gaster says calmly. “These gentlemen need to speak with you now, I will watch over Frisk while they interview you.”  
The arm around your shoulders clench you tightly before something hard presses against the crown of your head.  
“Sit tight buddy.” Sans tells you softly. “I’m going tibia right back.”  
“This way Mr. Skeleton.” A deep male voice says.  
You’re lifted from the plastic chair by Gaster and lay against his shoulder, your head resting comfortably there as a hand strokes your hair.  
“Excuse me?” A female voice interrupts your rest. “Is that Frisk *FILE CORRUPTED*?”  
“Yes.” Gaster answers calmly.  
“I am Shannon Mumford, social service worker for Ebbott County child protective services.” The female voice says. “I was called to take Frisk to be examined by a doctor. Are you the one who found them?”  
“Yes.” Gaster stands. “They need to see a human doctor urgently. Though I do not believe that their injuries are fatal, they need seen.”  
“My car is in the parking lot.” Shannon says. “Please, follow me.”  
You’re carried outside where you can hear the noises of daily life going on around you. You’re so tired though and cannot open your eyes.  
“I have a carseat for them.” Shannon leads Gaster through the noisy outside. “Please, just place them in…” You’re placed in a warm, hard, plastic seat with a thin foam lining. “Alright, if you’ll just let me buckle them in…” A strap was brought across your shoulders and over your lap before being buckled to your left. “Thank you Mister?”  
“You may call me Gaster.” Gaster’s voice is calm.  
“Mr. Gaster.” Shannon sighs tiredly. “I must tell you that Frisk is, technically, still under the custody of the state and I cannot give you any formal updates or tell you where they are being taken. But here is my card. I will need to interview you and anyone who’s had a hand in their care over the past year so… Here’s a few of my cards. Please contact me as soon as you are able and we can set up appointments.”  
“Thank you.” Gaster replies. “Please ensure that they are well cared for. Should we wish to seek custody of Frisk when they are well again?”  
“You’ll also have to contact me for that and our adoption liaison.” Shannon explains. “Just call me when you can, I need to get Frisk to the hospital now.”  
“Very well.” A hand gently pets your hair back. “Rest now Frisk. We will see you once you are healed.”  
The motion of the car driving lulls you peacefully to sleep.  
Sleep wraps around you and it feels like an eternity. It’s glorious.  
You rouse once and find yourself in a white hospital room. The oversized sweater and Sans’ hoodie you had been wearing gone and replaced with a thin hospital gown.  
You’re hooked up to so many beeping machines.  
There’s a noise outside and you look at the door just as it glows blue and slams open.  
You’re so tired and groggy, but manage smile as your friends rush in. Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys, Mettaton, and Sans enter the room in a heap.  
They surround your bed as hospital staff protest and you giggle weakly. The world feels so weird.  
Your friend’s words are muffled and the room fuzzy. Your hands are scooped up by each of the skeleton brothers and you see that there’s IV tubes connected to your left arm.  
Someone comes into the room and says something that makes your friends upset and they begin to argue as a nurse goes to one of the IV bags connected to your arm dripping clear fluid and connects it to a smaller bag.  
Seconds after the smaller bag is connected you feel warm and fuzzy. The room fades around you and your grip on your friends breaks as your head lulls to the side.  
The next time you wake up you can’t remember if that was a dream or not. The first person you see is a nurse hovering over you.  
“Frisk?” She asks, her voice very gentle. “Can you hear me?”  
You nod silently, the room is cast in a soft glow.  
“I’m going to sit you up now.” The nurse explains readying to press one of the buttons on the side of the bed. “Tell me if anything hurts, alright?”  
You nod again and look around. Your head is still groggy but it was clearing up. There’s a large window to your right and the night sky outside was castrated by the bright lights of the city bellow.  
“You’re a Walburg Children’s hospital.” The nurse tells you as you look around the little room confusedly. “Do you remember coming here?”  
You shake your head.  
“That’s okay.” The nurse smiles at you. “Are you hungry Frisk?”  
You think about it, you don’t feel hungry, and shake your head.  
“Alright, I’m going to put some nutrients in your IV alright?” The nurse explains.  
You nod and look about the room.  
Your bed is much larger than on the last run when you had been in the hospital. The room was also nicer. There were two arm chairs and curtains around the bed. The monitors looked newer and the window was much bigger.  
Your voice is raspy and your throat tight as you ask how long you’ve been here?  
“Eight weeks.” The nurse tells you calmly. “You were put in a medically induced coma at Ebbott Memorial.”  
You ask if you can call your friends? You tell the nurse that they must be really worried.  
“Your social worker has already been called, she’ll be down in the morning.” The nurse gives you a patient smile. “She’s very relieved that you’ve woken up today. We’ve been trying to wake you for two days.”  
You shake your head and tell her your friends, the monsters you explain.  
The nurse goes quiet for a moment before taking your tiny hand in her’s.  
“No one but your social worker has come to see you since you’ve arrived Frisk.” She explains, her voice very gentle.  
The little bit of feeling that had been returning suddenly went numb. Your friends… Hadn’t come see you?  
You lay back against the soft pillow as the nurse checks the monitors.  
“Do you want anything?” The nurse asks. “Anything at all?”  
You ask if you can have the cloths that you’d been wearing before your social service worker had gotten you.  
“I’ll see if anything was sent with you when you were moved.” The nurse gives you a patient smile. “If I can find them I’ll bring them to you.”  
You smile softly and close your eyes, the fragment of your soul that still remained aching painfully.  
Shannon Mumford did come the next morning and explained to you what was going on. You were back in the state’s custody but not healthy enough for a group home as you had been in before. So, she’d found a nice foster home for you to stay at. The best one she’d ever found.  
Richard and Sarah were the foster parents and they had a daughter one year older than you named Rachel. Richard’s a child psychologist and Sarah’s a RN who works at a hospital. Rachel attends a fancy private school. Shannon explains to you that they’re a medically equipped foster home that would take good care of you.  
“They’re even looking to adopt.” Shannon gives you a soft smile. “So, if you like it there you could potentially get adopted by them.”  
You look at her and see the sadness in her face. The emotions that she kept beneath the skin were visible to you when you relied on seeing the way Gaster did. It was the only thing you had left of your friends now. They hadn’t come to see you once, even though you’re awake now.  
You ask, your voice a soft whisper, how long until you were sent to stay with these strangers?  
“You’re going to be discharged tomorrow if today’s appointments go well.” Shannon explains, reaching into her big black bag that she’d brought with her. “I brought you something, Toys for Tots dropped these off.” She smiles and gives you a brown teddy bear with a big red bow. “You were in the coma over Christmas, I thought that you might like it.”  
You take the teddy bear from her and look at it in your hands. It reminds you of the bunny that Mettaton had gotten you in the last timeline and your eyes fill with tears. You begin to cry and tell Shannon that you miss your friends and you want to go home.  
“I’ll see what I can do…” Shannon tells you. “I can’t promise that you can go back with them… There’s a lot going on with the monsters right now and I have to think about what’s in your best interests.”  
You tell her you miss them though and you want to be with them.  
“I know Frisk…” Shannon assures you as the door opens and the doctor comes in. “Look, Doctor Marstin is here. I’ll bet she even has a lollipop if you’re good and behave throughout the exams.”  
You behave. You do your best to be good. You do everything you’re told.  
Hoping, desperately, that if you’re good then you’ll get to see your friends. At least call them and ask why they haven’t visited you.  
Even when Richard who was too tall, big, with big muscles, broad shoulders, and REALLY short brown hair came with his pretty wife Sarah who was small, had blonde hair, and wore a long button up coat. You even behaved for them at the hospital as Shannon went over your care and what was expected of them. You even smiled and buckled the booster seat that they made you sit in on the drive to their house, even though none of the monsters had made you use a booster seat. Their house that was in the middle of the suburbs, human suburbs, that was big and white with a pretty fence around it. There were trees everywhere and the lawns were all perfectly manicured. Inside the house was spotlessly clean and family photos lined the walls.  
“Are you hungry Frisk?” Sarah asked you as you sat on the couch nervously.  
You anxiously shake your head and look around the room with it’s cream walls, white carpet, and fancy furniture. You felt dirty in the jeans and plain green sweater that you’d been given. At least they had found Sans’ hoodie, which you clutched tightly in your lap along with the bear.  
“That’s alright.” Sarah smiles at you and turns on the television, one of those big flat screen kinds over the fireplace that had a thick panel of glass in front of fake logs. “Do you have a show that you like?” She pulls up the T.V. guide on the screen before handing you the controller. “Why don’t you find what you like and put it on? I’ll go get you some chocolate milk.”  
You want to tell her that you like plain milk more but don’t. If you’re good they’d let you call your friends, you tell yourself.  
Flicking through the guide you find Cops and put it on. You sip on the chocolate milk and glance nervously around you. After a few minutes Richard comes into the living room. Richard wore a button up shirt and casual pants that weren’t jeans with a belt. He smiles at you and sits beside you.  
“Like Cops?” He asks you with an easy going nature.  
You nod nervously.  
“I did too when I was a kid.” Richard tells you. “What’s your favorite part? When they chase the bad guy or when they get the bad guy?”  
You think for a moment and hold up two fingers.  
“I like when they get the bad guy too.” Richard smiles at you. “I just finished putting your stuff away up stairs. Are you ready to see your room?”  
You nod nervously and turn off the T.V.  
Richard leads you up a set of stairs to a room a cream colored door. Inside is a bed loaded with pillows and a puffy comforter, a fancy looking dresser, a big carpet in the middle of the room showed all sorts of colorful circles, and there was a desk with matching chair. Next to the bed was a big window that looked out over the front yard, thick curtains pulled back by ribbons. The entire room was colored in pastels and smelled like a flowery air freshener.  
“Think you’ll be comfy Frisk?” Richard asks as you move nervously about the room.  
You nod and put Sans’ hoodie and the bear on the bed.  
Timidly you ask Richard if you could, maybe, call one of your friends? You tell him that you miss them and want to talk to them. Richard’s eyes grow sad and he gives you a sympathetic smile.  
“Not today Frisk.” He tells you, kneeling to your level. “But, hey, as soon as we can I’ll get the number from Shannon and we’ll call okay?”  
You nod, going quiet again, as the front door down stairs opened.  
“I’m home!” A little girl’s voice called and someone ran up the stairs. “Where’s my new brother or sister?!”  
You feel yourself tense up as Richard gets back to his feet. A girl with bright blonde hair and sparkly eyes runs into the room and jumps into Richard’s arms.  
“Welcome home sweetie.” Richard kisses the girl a dozen times all over her face, making her giggle and laugh. “How was school?”  
“Good!” You assume that this is Rachel, the daughter who went to a fancy private school that Shannon had told you about. The girl wore a plaid skirt that was blue and black as well as a blue blazer that went with it. Bright eyes landed on you and she eagerly wriggled in her father’s arms. “You!”  
The instant she was down Rachel ran up to you excitedly and hugged you tightly.  
“Rachel, you have to be gentle with Frisk.” Richard says as Rachel pulls back and looks you over.  
“Your name’s Frisk huh?” Rachel pulls back excitedly and grins widely. “You’re really small but that’s alright. We’re gonna be best friends, okay? I’m your big sister now so if you need anything you just come to me. Do you like My Little Pony? Come on we can watch it together. Mom’s making mac and cheese for supper, that’s my favorite, what’s your favorite?” She suddenly turns and looks up at Richard. “Frisk’s gonna come to school with me tomorrow right? I can’t wait to introduce you to all of my friends.” She giggles and pulls you back to the living room as she barrages you with more questions and plans that she has.  
“My birthday is this weekend and I told mom and dad I wanted to be a big sister and I’m so happy that you’re here because now I am!” Rachel hugs you tightly as you try to process everything while the opening music of a cartoon plays on the television. “Do you like dancing and singing? I love to sing and dance, that’s why my birthday is a dance party! It’s going to be”  
“Rachel.” Richard’s voice is stern as he comes in from around the hall. “Slow down, we told you that you have to be slow and patient. Remember?”  
“Yes sir…” Rachel pouts and then sticks her tongue out at him. “Nyeh!”  
That night you pick at the supper and nibble on it but your stomach is in knots and you can’t eat much. Sarah tucks you into bed, but she doesn’t tuck the blankets as firmly as any of the monsters did, and bids you good night before leaving for work.  
You spend most of that night laying awake, wondering where your friends were. Why hadn’t they come to see you? Why had they allowed you to be put with these strangers? Didn’t they care about you anymore? Didn’t they miss you or wonder where you are?  
Your soul aches and you sit up, pulling your soul out. The small shard had grown a little since you’d been carried out of the Underground by Gaster. But more than ¾ of it was still Gaster’s purple magic. You let your soul drift back into place and pull you knees to your chest.  
Why hadn’t your friends stayed with you this time?  
Why’d they left you all alone?  
When sleep does come it’s filled with strange dreams. You’re in the void and you’re laying on an operating table again.  
“How do you feel Frisk?” Gaster is suddenly beside you.  
You tell him okay, disoriented and confused.  
Your soul drifts from your body and Gaster begins to examine it, the hand that had been absorbed in your body holding your soul.  
You tell him that you miss your friends.  
“It will be some time before we’re able to see you again.” Gaster says off handedly as he examines the growth that the little red had made. “There is much going on.”  
You go quiet and close your eyes. Was it possible to sleep in a dream?  
Apparently it was because when you roused next it was to an alarm clock ringing loudly in the next room.  
The morning was hectic and you watched from first your bedroom and then the kitchen table as Rachel and Richard both got ready for the day and Sarah returned from work. Just as Sarah emerged from a fresh shower Richard and Rachel kissed her goodbye.  
“I’m going to make Maddie sooooooo jealous!” Rachel tells you as she hugs you tightly. “Don’t forget! MLP seasons one and two today, I’m gonna quiz you when I get home!”  
You nod nervously.  
“Just relax and make yourself at home today Frisk.” Richard says, bending down and kissing the top of your head. “I’ll be home around lunch.”  
You nod again as Sarah comes to stand beside you. Both of you wave goodbye as Richard pulls out of the driveway with Rachel in the back of the big black SUV that they had.  
“Do you not like oatmeal?” Sarah asks as she cleans up breakfast. “I can make you something else if you’d like?”  
You shake your head and nervously mumble that you’re not hungry.  
“That’s alright.” Sarah gives you a comforting smile as she does the dishes. “Maybe by lunch you’ll have an apitite. I know this must be a lot to take in.”  
You nod and timidly walk up beside her. You offer to dry the dishes for her as she washes them.  
“Thank you, that’s very sweet.” Sarah yawns tiredly before giving you an encouraging smile.  
Sarah tries to talk with you as you dry dishes with her and neatly stack them on the counter as high as you can. The dishes were white with pretty flowers on them that looked too fancy to eat on.  
After the dishes are done you nervously tug on the hem of Sarah’s shirt.  
“Yes Frisk?” You can tell that she’s tired but...  
You ask if you can call your friends? You tell her that you think they’re really worried about you. You internally hope they are…  
“I’m sorry, but not today.” Sarah gives you a sympathetic smile. “Here, how about we go watch some My Little Pony in the living room?”  
You manage to sit through the first season of the most sugary sweet, cutesy, friendship is magic thing that had ever been so sweet that felt like it’d given your brain cavities. The show itself was fine and kinda addictive but… Oh dear Asgore was it just disturbingly happy and sweet. By the time that the DVD disc needed changed for season two Sarah was asleep behind you on the couch. You reasoned that, since she went to work the previous night, she’s tired.  
Getting up you go to the kitchen and fill up your cup with water. Then, you notice it.  
There’s a phone on the counter, one of the cordless ones that charged in the station. You quickly glance back in the living room and see that Sarah’s still asleep. Putting your cup on the counter down you take the phone and run to the bedroom upstairs. Your hands are shaking as you clutch the phone for dear life.  
Who should you call? Toriel? Asgore? No, what if they’re busy with all the diplomatic stuff. Papyrus would answer his phone, he always did, and you’re afraid that Sans would still be asleep right now.  
Your fingers shake as you dial Papyrus’ number and then press call.  
Holding the phone to your ear you wait as you try to steady your breathing.  
The first ring makes your heart jump but then…  
“We’re sorry, but your call cannot be completed as dialed. Please check the number you are trying to reach and dial again.”  
Your heart sinks and you press end before trying Sans’ number.  
“We’re sorry, but your call cannot be completed as dialed. Please check the number you are trying to reach and dial again.”  
You try Toriel.  
“We’re sorry, but your call cannot be completed as dialed. Please check the number you are trying to reach and dial again.”  
You try Asgore.  
“We’re sorry, but your call cannot be completed as dialed. Please check the number you are trying to reach and dial again.”  
You try Alphys and then Undyne.  
“We’re sorry, but your call cannot be completed as dialed. Please check the number you are trying to reach and dial again.”  
You begin to feel numb, as though the world around you wear floating away, as your legs carry you back down stairs.  
Quietly as a mouse you replace the phone on the docking station and retrieve your water before going back up to the bedroom. Once in the bedroom you put the water on the side table and the collapse on the bed where you let the weak torrent of tears out.  
The day came and went. Richard came home at noon as promised and took Sarah to their bedroom before gathering you for lunch. You learn that Richard is taking half days for a few weeks to spend time with you as a foster father and child psychologist. That afternoon you and he wonder the back yard and talk about things that you both like. Sarah wakes up before Rachel gets home from school, a woman in a large SUV like Richard’s dropping her off, and begins supper.  
Rachel made it easy to forget how lonely you are. She quizzes you on MLP and demands that you have to watch season two the next day and that you’d both watch the movies that weekend. As Rachel settles to do homework she drags you into her very pink, very cluttered, room.  
“I’m your big sister now so I’m going to teach you everything you missed in school today!” Rachel declares as she pulls out the worksheets she had to do for homework.  
Richard sits nearby as you both work, observing.  
“You’re very smart Frisk.” Richard praises as you finish a long division question.  
You tell him that Sans helped to teach you math, adding that all the monsters helped you learn the stuff you needed to from school.  
“They sound very nice.” Richard smiles at you. “I hope we get to meet them someday.”  
You go silent before agreeing.  
After supper you play a board game with everyone before getting tucked back into bed.  
The days blended into a blurry haze that continued to lose color. Shannon visited the third day of your stay to see how you were doing. By the end of the week though you pretty much just got up and watched T.V. before sleeping until Rachel got home. Spending time with Rachel was the only way that the crushing lonesomeness of being abandoned by your friends eased. She was so energetic, so full of life, and so darn happy that it was like an infection when she was around.  
You felt happy with Rachel and on Saturday, when a swarm of girls from the private school where Rachel went came over for the sleep over dance party, you actually had fun. You’d never had a dance party. Richard and Sarah ordered so much pizza for you all and you actually were hungry so you ate a whole slice. Then there was the birthday cake and presents.  
Rachel was so kind… She let you open presents with her and made sure that you were next to her the entire night. All of her friends treated you nicely and for the first time you felt… Normal. You laughed and played. It was euphoric playing with everyone and you were able to forget your cares for that entire night. You bounced on the bed with everyone, had pillow fights, ate cake and pizza. Rachel showed you how to use the new hair waver wand that she got and you made each other’s hair super-duper wavy so that it stuck out everywhere.  
But Sunday… You couldn’t get out of bed. Your stomach hurt and your chest felt tight. You woke up feeling drained and you couldn’t stop crying. After all of the girls that had slept over had gone home you sequestered yourself to your room and just cried into the pillows.  
“Frisk?” Rachel asks, coming into your room. “What’s wrong? Why’re you crying?”  
You shake your head and tell her that you miss your friends.  
“Oh…” Rachel climbs onto the bed beside you and pats your back. “Don’t cry… You have new friends… And me… I’m your big sister… I’m your best friend and you’re my best friend…”  
You nod and thank her but the tears won’t stop. You tell her about them, all of them. You tell her about how Papyrus was so excitable and she’s love him. His spaghetti that used to be awful but had gotten really good. You tell her about Sans who was always making bad puns and would let you nap all day and then help you with your homework. You tell her how you’d go to Sans when you’d have a nightmare and he’d talk to you, you could tell him anything. You tell her about Undyne, Alphys, Toriel, Asgore, and Mettaton.  
“Mettaton…” Rachel repeats the name before her eyes light up excitedly. “I know who that is!”  
You look at her confusedly and ask how.  
“They have a television show!” Rachel exclaims. “Maddie watched it Friday night! She said it’s all dancing and singing and flashing lights and the best thing since My Little Pony!” She’s bouncing is how excited she is. “We’ll watch it next Friday together! That’ll make you feel better right?”  
You try to smile but the tears just won’t stop and you quickly burry your face into the pillows.  
Rachel tries to console you but after a while she leaves.  
Richard and Sarah both try to coax you downstairs for lunch and supper but you tell them you’re sick. They try to comfort you but you couldn’t stop crying.  
The next day was no better and Sarah brought you a high calorie, nutrient dense, milky drink that she urged you to drink. After choking it down it felt like a lead brick was in your stomach and you flop back into the covers, refusing to move. Everything hurt. The world was just grey. You just wanted to sleep and dream about your friends and the timeline you’d lost. The one where you could’ve been happy…  
This went on for the entire week. The next week you stop talking completely to everyone but Rachel and only the simplest of answers to Richard and Sarah. It wasn’t that you were mad at them or hated them, and you weren’t ungrateful, but what was the point? Why even try?  
You’re taken back to the hospital for your check up and only answer Richard and Sarah by nodding and shaking your head, completely ignoring the doctors. Your vocabulary towards your foster family by the end of the second week had deteriorated to nodding, shaking your head, and apologies.  
“Hey Frisk.”” Richard knocks on your door frame. “How’re you feeling?”  
You shake your head and burry your face into the pillow, it was Tuesday of your third week here. You were able to eat solid foods some days but mostly you stomached the nutrient shakes that the doctors pushed on you. Most days you got out of bed when Rachel pulled you out, but some you’d just flop on the floor and lay there until either Sarah or Richard put you back in.  
“I thought so…” Richard sits on the edge of the bed and you look at him, he’s holding a cellphone. “I was talking to some people today and thought… You’ve only asked to call your friends.” He holds the phone, it’s one of those fancy smart phones with a camera and everything. “That’s all you’ve asked for. Nothing else and you’ve been here a few weeks now.” He ruffles your hair and gives you a cocked smile. “Do you think you’d feel better if you got to talk to your friends?”  
Your eyes open a little wider and then your head sinks deeper into the pillow. You confess that you’d already tried, on the house phone, but the calls wouldn’t go through.  
“Let’s try on this phone.” Richard says, dialing *67 first. “What’s one of their numbers?”  
You rattle off Papyrus’ number, thinking that he was still the most likely one to answer.  
Richard puts the phone on speaker and takes a deep breath as it rings.  
“HELLO?” Papyrus’ voice comes through the phone.  
“Hello, I’m Richard Macklehaney.” Richard introduces himself as you sit up a little, your eyes going wide at your friend’s voice. “I’m Frisk’s foster father. I’m wondering… are you free to talk to-”  
“FRISK?!” Papyrus’ voice shouts through the phone. “OH MY GOD ARE THEY ALRIGHT?! SANS! DAD! METTATON! EVERYONE! FRISK’S FORESTER FATHER IS ON THE PHONE!”  
You get up and crawl closer to the phone, the most movement you had done all day, as there’s a chaotic shuffling on the other end of the line.  
“YOU’RE ON SPEAKER FRISK’S FORESTERY FATHER!” Papyrus’ voice shouts through the phone.  
“Ah, thanks.” Richard chuckles as you move to his lap and sit on his leg, as close to the phone as you could get. “This is the most I’ve see you move all day Frisk. Ahem,” He turns back to the phone. “I’m Frisk’s foster father and… Well Frisk really misses you all. I don’t know how much CPS has told you but I’m a child psychologist and they’re pretty depressed. I know that they said that Frisk is to have no contact with anyone without court permission but…” His hand rests on your shoulder and gives you a gentle squeeze. “They haven’t been eating and are getting worse. If they don’t start to improve then they’ll have to be taken back to the hospital. If you’re free, do you think that maybe you can talk to them? Cheer them up a bit?”  
The chaos that came from the other end of the phone was nothing less than you could have ever expected of your friends.  
“HUMAN!” Papyrus’ voice cut through the others. “ARE YOU THERE?! I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”  
You tell them that you’re there and that you miss them. You can’t help but start to cry as you tell them you miss all of them so much that it hurts and that you’re so sorry. You tell them that everyone here is so nice but you’re so lonely and you miss them so much. You ask them, beg them to let you come home. You promise to be good, you swear you’ll be good.  
“Hey bucko,” Sans’ voice comes through the phone, the background noisy and you can hear everyone fighting over who gets to talk to you. “calm down. It’s okay. None of this is your fault.”  
You begin to shake, the crying becoming so bad, and say it is your fault. If you’d just been a good kid and done what he’d said…  
“No, don’t think that way.” Sans assures you. “This isn’t your fault. The humans, the social workers, they’re just… Being bone heads.” You giggle a little at the pun. “Heh, I heard that. Look, we’re trying to get you back. I swear we are. Toriel and Asgore have been fighting non-stop with the human government to get you back. We all go down to the CPS office and Courts as often as we can to figure out what we have to do. It’s just being tough you know? You were in really bad shape and… Some of the humans think that we did all that to you.”  
You shake your head furiously and say they didn’t. You’d gotten hurt because you hadn’t listened to them… You hadn’t asked for help…  
Richard gives you an encouraging smile. “It’s okay Frisk.” Richard says. “Keep going.”  
You tell Sans how everything feels grey and you can’t even get out of bed. You tell him you don’t even have to go to school and you’re allowed to watch T.V. all day but you still can’t get up some times.  
“You need to try Frisk.” Sans says. “I know it’s hard buddy, but you have to try. Promise me you’ll try? And that you’ll eat? You’re not a magic skeleton, you can’t go days without eating.” He chuckles. “Heh, even I don’t like to do that. Turns me into a numbskull.”  
You giggle again and promise that you’ll try.  
“Good.” Sans’ voice sounds relieved. “I’m gonna let you talk to the others now because I’m mildly sure I’m boned if I don’t.” The pun makes you giggle again. “Don’t give up on us, alright kiddo? We’re all fighting for you. A lot of people really care about you.”  
You promise that you’ll try and that you won’t give up.  
“Good, also before the call gets ended I wanna talk to your Forest Father okay?” Sans adds quickly before the phone is snatched.  
“HUMAN!” Papyrus gets on the phone.  
Richard sits with you for almost three hours as you talk to all of your friends. The pain and loneliness ebbs away as you talk to your friends. They want to know everything you’ve been doing, how you’ve been, what the doctors say. As you talk you begin to feel happy again, your hope returning to you. You can hear Sarah moving around the house and she glances in on you and Richard before nodding and going downstairs.  
“Alright.” Sans’ voice comes back on the phone. “You still there kiddo or did we talk your ears off?”  
You giggle and tell him you still have both your ears.  
“Wait, let’s check.” Richard makes a show of checking both your ears which makes you giggle more. “Two ears, look like their human and not rabbit, good to go chief!”  
“Heh, nice.” Sans chuckles. “Mind if I talk to your Tree Dad kid? I gotta bone to pick with him.”  
You tell him you don’t mind and ask if you can tell everyone goodbye before the phone hangs up?  
“If your Forest man doesn’t mind then I know everyone would love that.” Sans replies.  
“Alright why don’t you go wash up Frisk, supper should be ready soon.” Richard tells you, getting up off the bed. “And change your pajamas too, you’ve been wearing those for two days.”  
You nod and eagerly rush to wash your hands and face then change into pajamas as Richard goes to his bedroom to talk to Sans. Once you’re done you creep down the hall and wait outside Richard and Sarah’s bedroom to tell everyone goodbye.  
“Yeah, you know where Rosina’s Italian is?” Richard asks. “It’s a small place, I know the owner, no cameras, no nothing. If you can meet me there tomorrow at eleven that’d be great.” You lean closer to the slightly open door and listen. “They’re a perfectly sweet child. If it wasn’t for the fact that they clearly want you and your family then you’d be going to custody court against me to get them back. But… They need you.” Richard glances up and cocks an eye at you. “Well, we can talk more about this tomorrow. Right now Frisk is trying to be sneaky and listen at the door.”  
You giggle as Richard walks the phone back to you and you can hear Sans chuckling on the other end of the line.  
“Eaves dropping now?” Sans asks. “Don’t go causing too much trouble for those folks over there.”  
You promise you won’t and ask him if he’s going to meet Richard tomorrow?  
“Yeah, we wanna chat.” Sans says. “How’re you feeling? Any better?”  
Much, you tell him, you then ask how he’s doing.  
“Better now that I got to know my kiddo is in good hands.” Sans goes quiet for a bit. “Frisk, I need you to promise me that you won’t give up. Alright? We’ll all be together again real soon, I promise. We’re all fighting to get you back. Just hang in there. Okay?”  
You promise you’ll hang on and thank him. You’re sorry for doubting them.  
“Kid, with everything you’ve been through…” Sans trails off. “I can’t blame you for doubting anyone. Just know that we are trying. All of us, and we’re not going to give up until you’re back where you belong.”  
You swallow the tears that come to your eyes and thank him. You ask Sans to tell everyone that you love them, the good kinda love, and that you miss them.  
“I will kid.” Sans assures you. “You know… Chara definitely got all of your L.O.V.E but you still have more love than anyone else in the world. Don’t forget that, alright?”  
You tell him you won’t.  
“Good, now go down and get some supper.” Sans chuckles. “Eat enough to make Undyne and Paps proud.”  
You tell him you will and say goodbye.  
“Goodbye kiddo.” Sans says. “Be good.”


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoi peepoles!  
> Enjeer!  
> [Vibrates]

The next morning you’re woken up by Richard as you usually were.   
“Hey Frisk.” Richard grins at you as you rub the sleep from your eyes. “How about you come to work with me today?”  
You shrug, why not?  
“Great.” He ruffles your hair as Rachel’s alarm in the next room goes off. “Go ahead and get dressed and come on down stairs.”   
You get out of bed and wonder over to the dresser. Getting dressed you groggily go to the bathroom as Rachel stumbled sleepily out of her room, already in her uniform for school.  
“Morning Frisk.” Rachel yawns as you get both of your tooth brushes ready.   
You mumble good morning, handing her the pink MLP tooth brush and begin to brush your teeth with the purple MLP tooth brush.  
“Why’s school so early?” Rachel whines as she brushes her teeth. “Its so dump.”   
You nod in agreement and fill the water cup at the sink. Spiting you take a gulp of the water in your mouth before handing it to Rachel who repeats the same motion.   
“At least it’s Friday.” Rachel says, filling the sink with warm water after you both spit as you get two wash cloths. “Tomorrow mom and dad are gonna take us to the aquarium. Do you think that we’ll see any windigos?”  
You think about it, the windigos from the MLP movie, and then say that you don’t think that they’re fish.  
“Hmmm….” Rachel frowns as you wash your face with the warm wash cloth. “We should find the sea horses. Do you think they’ll let us ride one?”  
You think about it and say that you don’t know but it’d be fun.  
“I’m gonna ride a pink one!” Rachel says excitedly. “Do you think I’m more Twilight or Fluttershy?”  
Pinkypie you say immediately as you both hang up the wash cloths.  
“What?!” Rachel exclaims before chasing you out of the bathroom and down the stairs, you both giggling madly. “I’m too quiet and shy!”  
“Woah!” Richard has to step back as you both run around the table, holding two bowls of oatmeal safely over your head. “What’s going on kids?”  
“Frisk says I’m Pinkypie!” Rachel whines as she catches you and you both tumble to the ground.  
“Yeah?” Richard cocks an eye at you both as Sarah brings over two larger bowls of oatmeal. “What’d you think you are? Fluttershy?”  
“Duh!” Rachel exclaims as you both get up giggling.  
“Sweetie.” Sarah chuckles as she and Richard put the bowls on the table. “Of course you’re Pinkypie. You make everyone smile whenever they see you.”   
Rachel considers this over breakfast and you tell her as you all eat that you wish that you were as confident as her.   
“Fiiiiiiiiine.” Rachel sighs as she gets her bag for school, a briefcase that matched her uniform that her school require. “Then Frisk’s Fluttershy!”   
You agree to that, putting on Sans’ blue hoodie.   
“Do you have a doctor’s appointment today?” Rachel asks as you walk with her and Richard to the large, black, SUV in the driveway.   
You shake your head and tell her that Richard said that you were coming with him to work.  
“Ah!” Rachel’s mouth drops open in an O. “Daddy! I wanna go to work with you too!”   
“Every time I’ve taken you to work you’re bored.” Richard gives her a comical look as he puts her in the car and buckles her in, actually testing the seatbelt for snugness. “Besides, Frisk is coming for academic testing to see if they qualify for Cathedral Prep so they can go to school with you.”  
That makes you frown as Richard places you on the booster seat and clicks the seatbelt before testing it too. You tell him you don’t want to go to school.  
“And I don’t want to pay taxes.” Richard laughs. “But that’s life, doing things we don’t want to do so that we can do things we want to do.”  
“It’ll be awesome if you come to school with me!” Rachel begins to talk excitedly as Richard pulls out of the driveway. “You can eat lunch with us and we can play at recess together! Do you think that Frisk will be in my class?”  
“Frisk’s a year younger than you.” Richard reminds her patiently as his eyes scan the road. “But they understand your homework pretty well so maybe they’ll test well enough to skip a grade?”  
You feel your face scrunch up into a pout and say you hate school.  
“Have you ever been to MY school?” Rachel grins at you widely.  
You shake your head.   
“Then how do you know you’ll hate MY school if you’ve never gone to it?” Rachel smirks.  
You scowl and stick your tongue out at her, hating that she was right.  
“Ha!” Rachel laughs triumphantly. “You’re going to love MY school.” She leans close with a wide grin. “Or should I say OUR school?”  
You glare at her and she glares back as a wide smile cracks across her face. A few seconds later you both burst into giggles. Rachel’s school was one with a tall iron gate that had had “Cathedral Preparatory School” in a large sign over it. The school itself was tall, fancy, and intimidating as Richard pulled up to the drop off que where other cars were lined up. Teachers dressed in matching jackets that had the Cathedral Prep emblem on them were waiting at the end of the walkway, which lead up to the big front doors of the school, helping kids get out of the cars.  
“I’m going to tell everyone that you’re going to come to school with me soon!” Rachel says, hugging you tightly before unbuckling herself and kissing Richard’s cheek. “Bye daddy! Bye Frisk!”   
The door opens and one of the teachers on morning duty helps Rachel out of the car.  
“Hello Mr. Macklehaney!” The teacher greets him and then smiles at you. “Hello Frisk! When are you going to come to school with Rachel?”  
“They’re testing today.” Richard winks at the teacher. “Thinking next fall.”  
“Great!” The teacher grins at you. “Can’t wait Frisk! Be safe Mr. Macklehaney!”   
Richard waves at them as they close the door and then pulls out of the driveway.  
“I really do think you’d like Cathedral Prep.” Richard says as he drives down the road. “The classes are small and the teachers are all very good. Also, because of your circumstances, if you test well you’d be a shoe in for their Angel Scholarship.”  
You ask what that is?  
“Well, Cathedral has a lot of people who donate money to the school so that kids who wouldn’t normally get the opportunity to go because of the tuition can go.” Richard explains. “The Angel Scholarship is for children who had rougher starts in life but show academic promise. It covers tuition, uniforms, and lunches. It’s the highest scholarship that they offer.”  
You ask him why he’d think that you’d qualify for something that important?  
“You’re smart.” Richard chuckles. “And, you fits the bill on what they look for in the Angel Scholarship.” He rolls his eyes. “Forget that last bit. You’ll do great on the test today and then I’ll get you Italian food for lunch. Any requests?”   
You smile at that and remember Papyrus’ spaghetti. You ask if you can get spaghetti with lots of sauce?  
“Cheese too.” Richard winks in the mirror.   
Richard works at a college connected to Cathedral Prep, the tall college bustling with adults. You know it has something to do with child psychology but you don’t know what else. You don’t even known what psychology was.  
“Alright, we’re going to the testing center Frisk.” Richard takes you out of your seat and holds your hand with a black backpack on his back. “Don’t worry about the test or the interview. Just be yourself and you’ll do fine.”   
You nod, your nerves beginning to rise and you cling to Richard’s hand.  
The testing center was a quiet place, quieter than a library even, and you didn’t have to take the test alone. A nice lady sat with you and read the questions to you and watched as you worked through the problems. Next you got to sit and talk to an old man who gave you soda and asked you about yourself. You tell him all about the fun times you’d had with your friends in the Underground. He laughed when you told him about getting Alphys and Undyne together. The time Sans stacked 30 hotdogs on your head. You tell him about Papyrus’ spaghetti that had been awful but was getting a lot better.   
He was very interested in the Underground and asked about the culture. You tell him that it’s really nice, just crowded.   
“It sounds like quite a fun place to go.” The man says as someone knocks on the door. “Oh dear, is it already ten?” He chuckles as the door opens. “I’ll have to have Mr. Macklehaney bring you by again Frisk. It was wonderful to meet you and I would like to hear more about the Underground.”   
You grin and tell him you’ve got a lot of stories, but he should meet your friends…  
At the mention of your friends you suddenly go quiet. You’d gotten to talk to them just yesterday but… You missed them still….  
“How’d the interview go?” Richard asks, coming in and eying the tall soda that you’d been given. “Everything go well Dean Narsic?”  
“Absolutely.” The old man waved him off. “Frisk is a sweet child. I’ll be happy to write to Mistress Pavlok over at Cathedral Prep and recommend Frisk for the Angel Scholarship. Their scores were pretty impressive too, considering they’ve been Underground and away from a proper school for a year.” He hands Richard a piece of paper. “They’ll be on target for their grade level next year with these scores. If you can get them in the higher margins over this spring semester though you could get them in Rachel’s grade with little trouble.”  
“We’re going to meet a tutor to help them with that now.” Richard grins widely, looking over the test results before offering you his hand. “Come on Frisk. I want you to meet Professor Cardenzia, she works with me in the psychology department and used to be a speech language pathologist for children.”  
You give him a blank stare, what the heck did all that mean? You ask if that’s just a really fancy way of say that the person was smart?  
Both Dean Narsic and Richard laugh at that and your foster father nods.  
“Yeah, she’s very smart.” Richard chuckles before bidding Farwell to the Dean. “I’m on my way to a meeting now but if there’s an issue I can be reached on my cell phone.”   
“Not a problem.” Dean Narsic waves him off. “Have a good day little Frisk. Perhaps if you finish with Professor Cardenzia I’ll come by to hear more about the Underground.”  
That makes you smile and Richard leads you out into the bustling hallway.  
“You did really well Frisk.” Richard grins at you as he picks you up to carry you through the crowded hall. “You scored well above the last grade you were in. If you want to we can shoot to get you into Rachel’s grade next year.”   
You think about it and frown, you remind him that you hate school.  
“But would you hate school so much if you had a friend with you?” Richard cocks a brow at you, folding the test results and putting them in his pocket. “If we can get you to retest in a higher bracket then you could get into the same class as Rachel. You like spending time with her don’t you?”  
You nod and then pout a little, you really don’t like school though…  
“Well, let’s see how you like tutoring.” Richard chuckles as he takes you up three flights of stairs, taking them two at a time. “Professor Cadenzia is a friend of mine from when we both worked in clinics and she’s very good. She’s Rachel’s godmother and Rachel is very fond of her. I think you will be too.”   
You tell him that you’ll behave for her but that you don’t think that she can make you like school either.  
“We’ll see about that.” Richard winks at you as he approaches a tall wooden door and knocks on it. “Melissa?”  
“Come in Rich!” A woman’s voice calls from inside.  
The office, much like the Dean’s had been, was full of dusty books but scattered among the shelves were board games which you eye curiously. Professor Cadenzia was a librarian looking woman with a big floof of hair half tied up in a bun and thick glasses on her face as she wrote on a piece of paper at the desk.  
“I brought Frisk for you to meet.” Richard grins, letting you down and pulling out the test results again. “They just interviewed with Dean Narsic and he’s recommending them for the Angel Scholarship.”  
“Oh,” The woman’s serious face softened and she comes around the desk to you, kneeling to your height and smiling brightly. “Hello Frisk. Has Richard been taking good care of you?”  
You nod nervously and look up at him.  
“Look at these scores.” Richard grins, handing Professor Cadenzia the paper. “They’ve been out of school for a year and they’re almost two grades ahead of where they had been.”  
“Nice!” Professor Cadenzia exclaims eagerly, her eyes scanning the scores before grinning down at you. “We’re going to have a lot of fun Frisk, I promise.”  
You fidget nervously with your hoodie.   
“I’ll be back in a few hours okay Frisk?” Richard says. “I’ll bring back your spaghetti with extra sauce and cheese.”  
“From Rosina’s?” Professor Cadenzia cocks a brow at him.  
“Where else?” Richard chuckles.  
“Add an order of Lasagna to that for me too, alright bro?” She grins.  
“Sure.” Richard nods and then pats your shoulder. “Have fun Frisk. I’ll be back.”  
You watch Richard leave and then nervously look up at the woman who’s already gone to one of the shelves with the games on it.  
“Alright Frisk.” Professor Cadenzia says, pulling down a box. “Let’s play a few games, how’s that sound?”  
You nod nervously and go over to the desk.  
Mrs. Cadenzia, as she had asked you to call her, was really nice. She didn’t mind explaining the rules of the games that you played with her repeatedly. Nor did she get upset when you’d get stumped. She was very patient and helped you figure out the work games and number games that gave you a lot of trouble. The puzzle games were the best and you told her all about how Papyrus would build puzzles and how they were so much fun to get through. She said that your “Spatial Orientation” was “Exemplary”, whatever that meant, and throughout the games that you played she took lots of notes. Mr. Narsic came by as he said he would and even stayed for a short game before leaving after giving you both sodas. Already sugared up from one soda the second made you feel hyper and energetic.   
After a few games Ms. Cadenzia pulled out a large tub of legos and showed you pictures of buildings that she wanted you to recreate. You enjoyed building with the legos and had a lot of fun with it. You wonder if Papyrus would like to build with legos?   
As the thought crosses your mind the happiness of getting to play and meet all these nice people ebbs away. Suddenly, you’re no longer interesting in playing. You miss your friends and wish that they were there with you.   
“What’s wrong Frisk?” Mrs. Cadenzia asks when you stop building.   
You shake your head and tell her you don’t want to play anymore.  
“Are you not having fun?” The lady asks.  
You tell her no, not anymore… You miss your friends…  
“I’m sorry.” She gives you a sympathetic smile. “Would you like to tell me about your friends?”   
You want to but… You can’t seem to figure out how. You tell her that your head feels foggy and you want to go to bed.  
“Can you tell me how you feel right now?” She asks, bringing her note pad from the desk and sitting beside you on the floor.  
You try to. You’re numb. You don’t feel good but you don’t feel sick. You’re lonely even though Mrs. Cadenzia is right there. You know that Richard is bringing you Spaghetti and you’d been a little hungry a few minutes ago but now the thought of eating makes your stomach hurt. All you want to do is go to bed but you don’t really feel tired either. Everything’s right here but it feels far away from you. The idea of going to school with a lot of other kids makes your chest feel tight and you feel scared. You don’t even want to leave the office right now because the idea of going into the crowded halls makes the room feel weird and you want to throw up.   
You just want you friends because you felt better with them…  
As you struggle to explain Mrs. Cadenzia is writing rapidly on her note pad.  
“How do your friends make you feel better?” She asks patiently. “Do they play games? Watch T.V.?”  
You shake your head. You just feel better with them. They know how to make you feel better.  
“Is there something I can do?” Mrs. Cadenzia asks. “Is there something I can get you that they would to make you feel better?”  
You shake your head again… You just miss them so much…   
Your soul throbs painfully and you clutch your chest and whimper.   
“Are you alright?” Mrs. Cadenzia asks, her hand touching your shoulder.  
You flinch away from her touch and tell her you want your friends as tears fill your eyes.  
“I understand.” She gives you a gentle smile. “How about you go make yourself comfortable on the couch and I’ll call Richard. Okay?”  
You nod and get up off the floor. The sofa in the room is big enough for two adults to sit on and you make yourself comfortable on one half of it.  
“Hey, Rich.” Mrs. Cadenzia says into her phone. “About how much longer is your meeting going to take? …. Alright well, do you have a second? Frisk’s pretty upset right now and I think you should talk to them…. Yeah, based on the file CPS gave me and what you’ve told me I’ve got a pretty good diagnosis…. Okay… Yeah, do you want me to take them home?... Yeah, it’s not a problem, my next lecture isn’t for another hour and a half…. You call Sarah and tell her I’m bringing Frisk by your place… Why would I have a booster seat in my car?... They’ll be fine with out it, that five foot and 85 pounds rule is dumb anyway. Back in my day my folks never…. Yeah, yeah, don’t go all statistician on me…. Later.” She clicked off the phone and sighed before grinning at you. “Welp, I’m gonna take you home Frisk. Is that alright?”  
You nod and thank her, getting off the couch.  
“It’s alright, you don’t feel good.” Mrs. Cadenzia says and leads you into the hall. “And now’s the best time to since lectures are ongoing. Come on, let’s get you home. Richard said that he’s going to bring your lunch there for you.”   
You’re quiet the drive back to the house where Sarah was waiting. You barely notice the two women hugging and greeting each other as you make a beeline upstairs to the bedroom. Once inside you kick off your shoes and crawl under the blanket, clutching the bear that Shannon had given you.   
Lonesomeness fills you and the world turns grey around you. Trying to see something, anything, other than the oppressive grey you reach deep inside you for your soul where Gaster’s magic still shone. You’d only done it a few times, you didn’t really understand it, but you tried to see the way that he did. The room looked the same, very plain, very real. Faintly, in the distance, you could see the glowing embers of other souls. Human souls. Two inside the house and other fainter ones moving past it.   
You shake your head and things go back to normal. It was too disorienting to do that. You wish that someone, one of your friends, were here to explain it to you. You knew that you could only do it because Gaster’s magic is what kept your soul in place. Gaster’s magic was the only reason that the little fragment of your soul didn’t vanish completely, crushed to dust by the pressure of the world around you. Deep down, somewhere in your mind, a little voice wonders how much nicer it’d be if Gaster hadn’t have used his magic to preserve what remained of your soul…  
How much nicer things would have been for you if the plan had actually gone as you’d hoped… Or if Chara hadn’t attacked Ariel when he’d offered all the souls freedom…. Or if you’d have just fled with the other souls to whatever was beyond.   
“Frisk?” Sarah was at the door as you lay silently in bed. “Richard’s here and he brought you the spaghetti you asked for. Why don’t you come down and have lunch with us?”  
You apologize and mumble that your stomach hurts…  
Sarah sits on the edge of the bed and presses her hand to your forehead.  
“No fever.” She says and then holds your wrist and stares at her watch. “Steady heartbeat. You’re probably hungry and that’s why your stomach hurts.” She gives you a patient smile. “Come on Frisk, just come and try to eat.”  
You shake your head and hide your face under the covers.  
“No luck?” Richard’s voice enters the room as you hide and you feel Sarah get off the bed.  
“They say they’re not hungry.” Sarah sighs. “They don’t have a fever though and their pulse is steady. I can go make a nutrient shake for them.”   
“Don’t go making one just yet.” Richard says. “Just give me a little bit with them and we’ll see… I think they’ll eat though.”   
You wait under the covers as the door closes. Someone sits on the edge of the bed and you peek out of the covers to see Richard there.  
“Melissa told me you did really well today until you started to miss your friends.” Richard gives you an encouraging smile as he pulls out the smartphone you’d used last night. “So… Since you were so good for her and if you promise to come eat the spaghetti I brought you, I’ll let you call your friends.”  
You think about it for a minute and then nod.  
“You promise you’ll come eat?” Richard makes you hold his gaze.   
You promise that you’ll come try to eat but your stomach really does hurt…  
“Alright.” Richard unlocks the screen of the phone and calls Papyrus’ number again after dialing *67.  
“HELLO CALLER!” Papyrus’ voice comes through the phone as it goes to his voicemail. “YOU HAVE REACHED THE GREAT PAPYRUS’ PHONE! I AM AWAY RIGHT NOW BEING GREAT AND-“  
“Umm…” Richard ends the call. “Let’s try this one.”   
Without you even having to tell him the number Richard dials Sans’ after redialing *67. You ask him as it rings how he knew Sans’ number but before he could answer the call was picked up.  
“Hello Blocked Number.” Sans’ lazy voice comes through the phone.   
“Hello Sans, this is Richard.” Richard says into the phone. “Are you free to talk a bit to Frisk?”  
“Yeah, are they there?” Sans asks.  
“Just a second.” Richard turns off the speaker option and hands you the phone.  
Taking the phone you greet Sans, tears beginning to fill your eyes.  
“Hey buddy.” Sans’ voice is still casual which makes you smile as you press the phone to your head. “You don’t sound like you feel good. What’s going on?”  
You tell him that you miss everyone as Richard gently brushes the hair back from your face. You aren’t hungry, everything feels weird and far away, your chest hurts, and you feel so lonely that you’re afraid you’re going to be crushed under it.  
“Hey, hey, it’s alright.” Sans sooths over the phone as you begin to cry. “It’s alright Frisk. I know everything seems bad right now but it’s not the end of the world. You’ve literally already stopped that.” You giggle despite your tears. “Heh, I heard you laugh. Come on buddy, I know you’re stronger than this. I just need you to hang in for us. Give us time to get you back.”  
But what if the humans never let you go home, you ask, what if they take you away from them for good?  
“Hey, don’t have so little faith in us.” Sans chuckles. “We’ve been up and at’em rattling bones and shaking cages all day over you. Trust me, Asgore and Toriel have been in non-stop meetings with human politicians to get you back. Undyne’s been terrifying people at the CPS building. Paps and I have been talking to people all day to figure out how to get you back. We’re working really hard on our end.”  
You go quiet before telling him that you’re sorry for doubting them… It just hurts so much… And you feel so lonely.  
“I know kiddo…” Sans’ voice goes soft. “Hey… Is your tree dad nearby? Can he hear me?”  
You tell him no he can’t.   
“Okay…” Sans seems to hesitate. “How’s your soul?”  
You go quiet and tell him it hurts really badly. You tell him that… for a little bit… You’d wished Gaster’s magic wasn’t there so it could just crumble away…  
Richard gives you a simultaneously confused and worried look as Sans goes silent on the other line.  
“Frisk…” Sans’ voice sounds shaken and you instantly regret telling him anything. “Please kid… Don’t ever wish that again… I don’t think any of us could take it… After seeing some of what you’ve gone through… If we all lost you then the surface would be just as dark as the Underground.”  
You cry and tell him it hurts so much though.  
“I know kiddo.” Sans assures you. “Please, I know, believe me I know. I’ve given up before too. I’ve been in the same dark place. Everything felt hopeless and like it would never get better. But it did. It does. We will make this better. Okay? We will, just don’t give up on us.” Even through the phone you can tell that his chuckle is forced. “Where’s all your DETERMINATION gone? I gotta bone to pick with Asriel and Chara if they took all of that DT from you.”  
You try to laugh but can’t.  
“Hey, you know that there’s an aquarium in the city nearby?” Sans asks.  
You tell him that Richard and Sara are taking you and Rachel there tomorrow.   
“Really?” You can almost see Sans’ grin through the phone. “Are you excited? Do you want to see anything in particular there?”  
You tell him that Rachel wants you to ride sea horses with her.  
“Heh,” Sans chuckles. “Tell me about Rachel. Do you get along with them? What’ve you been up to today?”  
So… You tell him. You tell him how Rachel showed you MLP and even though it’s so sweet that it feels like it’s melting your brain it’s really addictive to watch. You then tell him about taking a test for school, about talking to the old dean, and going to tutoring where Mrs. Cadenzia. For some reason… The more you talk the better you start to feel. It was like when Sans would get you to talk to him about how school was going when you were upset. It just… Helped.  
“Wow, shooting for the hoitie toitie school huh?” Sans chuckles. “I know you’ll get in there if you really want to. You’re a pretty smart kid. If you weren’t you woulda never got past my brother’s puzzles.”  
You giggle and tell him that Mrs. Cadenzia said that you’re very “spatially oriented” and you think that means that you’re good at puzzles.  
“Kinda.” Sans chuckles. “I’ll explain it to you in person.”  
You ask softly what that will be? When will you ever see your friends again?  
“Sooner than you think.” Sans says. “So… How about this… You get up and shake off those blues you seem to have. Go do something fun and we’ll see you soon.”  
We’ll? You ask if he means everyone?  
“Maybe.” Sans chuckles. “Trust me, you don’t want to give up on everything yet. Paps will lose it if his number one fan isn’t feeling alright. I don’t even want to think about what Undyne will do. I think Alphys would understand, but the others… Eh… You’re gonna get those nice folks your with pretty boned if the others think they’re not taking good care of you.”   
His words make you giggle and you promise you’ll try…  
“Glad to hear you laugh.” Sans sighs relieved through the phone. “Alright… How about you get your squishy little human self up and go give some people a run around, then you can call me later? I’ll make sure everyone’s around so that we can take turns yapping your ear off.”   
You giggle again and tell him you will before thanking him.  
“What’re dunkles for?” Sans asks. “If tree dad’s around mind if I give him an earful? Kinda like rattling his cage a bit.”  
You tell Richard that Sans wants to talk to him.  
“Sure.” Richard takes the phone from you and nudges you to the door. “Sarah should have your lunch heated up if you’re hungry.”   
You nod and tell Sans you’ll talk to him later.  
“Be good kid.” Sans chuckles.


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The monsters are in the front of the custody race and!!!  
> WHAT IS THIS MADNESS?!  
> There's an upset from the rear of the pack!  
> Who can it be?!  
> Who's this contender leaping towards the front?!  
> IT'S RICHARD!!!!  
> And the crowd goes mild!!!!  
> Yes. Mild. They're not impressed.

You stay up late with Rachel that night and play games with her. Richard broke out an actual video game console and you two play a racing game. By mid-evening, after eating steamed veggies and chicken nuggets for supper, Rachel had determined that she was Rainbow dash and that you have to be Applejack by proxy. You two are allowed to play on the console for two hours and then Richard puts it away, saying that videogames were fine in moderation.  
You’re allowed to call your friends again while Rachel takes her bath, Richard waiting in the room as you talk to them, before it’s your turn to take a bath. Then it was straight to bed by eleven. Your friends were so excited to talk to you and you get to have a few minutes chatting with each of them, even Toriel and Asgore. Chara and Asriel share the phone for a few minutes to say hi, which was really just Asriel nervously thanking you for the part of your soul that they’d received and promising you that they’re taking good care of them. Chara didn’t really say anything as you talk to him except to ask when you’re going to just get up and come to the reservation which they told you was as unimpressive as it was last time.  
Your friends kept hinting that they’d see you really soon but you didn’t understand. When you asked Sarah as she’d tucked you into bed she told you that there was a court hearing Monday about your guardianship. Sarah assures you that she would ask Shannon if you could come to the court house but said that she couldn’t promise anything.  
Laying in the dark room you close your eyes and wait for the familiar dream.  
“Hello Frisk.” Gaster greets you as you open your eyes, the darkness of the Void swirling around you as he measures your soul that floated just above your torso. “You haven’t woken the past several nights. How are you?”  
You tell him that you’re alright and ask him if this is a dream?  
“In the human sense, yes.” Gaster nods and makes notes on a panel next to him. “Your body is at rest and your mind is going through the cycles of sleep. But you to my mind no, this is no dream.”  
You ask if he’s real? If this isn’t a dream where is it?  
“The Void.” Gaster says, your soul returning to your chest and he helps you sit up. “You still carry in you a part of me and I, after all the time I spent there, will always be apart of the Void now. This is just the easiest place to meet while you recover with your own kind to measure the recovery of your soul.”  
You ask him what he means? Why did he let the humans take you?  
“Because no monster has any knowledge of human medicine the way that the doctors of the Aboveground did.” Gaster answers simply, walking you across the black tile platform as a large screen comes up. “Yes, we have healing magic but monsters are more magic and dust than anything else. There was no guarantee that you would survive even with our strongest healers, which were not available at the time you most needed them since they were tending to the Prince and Demon.”  
You go quiet as you look up at the large screen. On it was your friends; Undyne, Papyrus, Alphys, Toriel, Asgore, and Sans. They seem happy as they go about their lives on the reservation. You notice, as they move about and interact with other monsters, Chara and Asriel too. They also seem very happy. They’re all so happy.  
Your soul aches and you feel very alone as you watch them be so content and happy in their lives Aboveground, their lives without you.  
“You are not happy.”” Gaster observes. “I am sorry. I thought seeing that your friends are well would raise your spirits, not dampen them.”  
You shake your head and tell him that you are happy that they are happy. But… You miss them and had thought that they missed you too. But now, seeing them so content and going on with their lives as you wallowed in the misery of your own, you weren’t so sure.  
“They do care for you Frisk.” Gaster’s hand rests on your shoulder. “But life does not stop for a single creature. There is much to be done and many oppositions to disprove to make this final transition the smoothest possible for all of monster kind.”  
You apologize, realizing how selfish you had been. Then, you ask him if he’s happy?  
“I am.” Gaster gives you a wide smile. “I live with my sons again.” A picture of a two story house comes on screen and you’re taken inside. “I often am tired by the physical world but I spend my days in it with Sans and Papyrus.” The screen shows you a set of stairs that lead to a basement lab where the only thing that looked odd was a very sterile looking bed. “I am comfortable here.” He says as you’re given a full view of the room before returning upstairs where you wonder through the living room, then kitchen, peak into the empty bathroom, and then to the second floor where there were three doors. “I try not to invade their privacy when I can.” Gaster says. “Sans is still learning that I am trust worthy, but trust takes time to build and I damaged his trust in me long ago. Papyrus is content and happy I think.” He smiles down at you as the door in the middle of the second floor opens and the view moves in. “I will be honest… Should you wish to stay with your own kind you could have a good life.” Images of the Macklehaneys come onto the screen. “But… Should you wish to return to us after your time with them is over, I would be happy if you came to stay with us.” His eyes are focused on the screen. “You would be well cared for and Sans will worry less. I must admit that I do not like the possibilities that arise from you living with the demon, though I know the King and Queen would like to keep you as their own.”  
You fidget nervously and admit that you don’t really want to be near Chara either. Not that you really have anything against them now that they had a soul, and you didn’t hold Asriel or Chara taking parts of your soul against them, but… You’re afraid of them.  
“They are not the human child they once were.” Gaster says in agreement. “I am afforded the opportunity to study their souls growth every day by their majesties. They are now, truly, a demon. A breed of monster that was once believed to be extinct.”  
You ask him how that’s possible? How could a human become a monster?  
“Surely you know that the humans have many monsters among them.” Gaster’s words were dry. “I am studying them now to see how they came to be what they are. They have both completely regrown souls from the pieces of yours that they took. Your own soul’s growth though…” He looked down at you, his face sad. “I had hoped that, being around those of your own kind, would help your soul to recover faster. I see that is not the case now.”  
You tell him that your soul often hurts, usually when you feel lonely or sad.  
Gaster frowns at this.  
“I will have to increase my monitoring of your soul.” He says, pulling up a smaller panel and starts to type. “I’ve caught several critical dips in your DT and it has remained drastically low compared to a normal human’s levels, let alone your average.”  
You ask him what all this means?  
“Your soul is weak and still at risk of deteriorating.” Gaster says typing. “I will increase active monitoring and raise the alerts that I have.”  
You softly ask him what would happen if your soul were to deteriorate?  
“You would either die or become a soulless being as Chara and Asriel had been.” Gaster answers.  
You silently wonder if that’d be alright? Your friends seemed happy without you despite what Sans had told you earlier. You wonder how it would be to be like Flowey had been? Unable to feel. Unable to understand. Would still feel pain and loneliness?  
“Do not consider those thoughts.” Gaster tells you sharply, putting the screen away and looking down at you with a strange expression. “I know that my son has already told you not to entertain such ideas but now you will listen to me. I will not allow another anomaly to form. I have also sworn to protect you.” He kneels before you, a hand pressing to your chest over where your soul is. “As long as my magic protects your soul from deteriorating I am with you, always near. Should you ever entertain such thoughts in the future I will know. Should I ever have enough to believe that there is danger to yourself I will act. Should I have to I will put you in stasis until you’re secure. Understand?”  
You nod as a mixture of defeat and fear begin to fill you.  
“It is not my goal to frighten you.” Gaster gives you a gentle smile. “Only to let you know that you are safe. Always.”  
Tears fill your eyes and you tell him it’s so hard now.  
“I know the challenges you face.” Gaster’s bodiless hands, minus the one holding your soul inside you, walk you forward to him. “You are not alone. All you need to do is ask for help and I will come.” He wraps his arms tightly around you. “Just rest Frisk. You’ve done enough.”  
You freeze momentarily before wrapping your arms around him and closing your eyes. All you want to do is go home… Wherever that was….  
You don’t go to the Aquarium the next day with Rachel and her parents. In fact you wake up feeling pretty awful. Your stomach twists in knots, your head aches, and your soul hurts painfully. Your condition is bad enough that you’re taken to the hospital where you’re given medicine for the pain and stomachache. But there isn’t a medicine that could help your soul and, though the doctors checked for any heart issues, they said there was nothing wrong.  
Sarah spent the entire day with you in the ER so that Richard could take Rachel to the Aquarium. It was already dark by the time that Sarah pulled back up into the driveway and Richard came out to meet you.  
“They couldn’t find anything.” Sarah sighs tiredly as Richard picks you up out of the car seat, you’re still clutching your stomach as it twisted. “So, bed rest, bananas, rice, apple sauce, and toast until their stomach settles… Motrin for their headache… And if their chest pains continue after 24 more hours they need to go back.”  
“Alright.” Robert nods as your brought inside. “Rachel’s already in bed. She seemed to have fun at the Aquarium. She picked you out a present since you weren’t feeling well Frisk.”  
You apologize softly, feeling guilty for missing the trip.  
“It’s not your fault.” Richard says as he puts you on the bed, you’re still in your pajamas from the night before, and tucks the blankets around you. Sitting on the dresser beside the teddy bear is a large, purple, octopus. “Sarah, you look exhausted. I’ll take care of getting Frisk comfy if you want to go get ready for bed.”  
You hide your face in the pillows as Sarah thanks him and gently pats your head.  
“Do you want to talk to your friends?” Richard asks, the cell phone in his hand.  
You shake your head and mumble that they’re happier without you…  
“What makes you say that?” Richard frowns.  
You go quiet before telling him that you just know they are. You say that they’re probably relieved that they don’t have to deal with you anymore…  
“Did one of them say that to you?” Richard asks.  
You shake your head and Richard takes a deep breath.  
“Okay,” He nods and rubs your arm a little. “just try to relax a bit Frisk.”  
You nod and he walks out of the room. The aching in your chest begins to ebb away slowly but sleep doesn’t come. Instead you doze silently and try not to think. It all just… hurts…  
When you close your eyes you see your friends smiling and having fun without you and for some reason… That hurts. Shouldn’t you be happy for them? Are you really this selfish? It’s just… You miss them… You want to be with them… You want to go home…  
“Are you awake Frisk?” Richard asks, cracking the door open.  
You nod a little, your eyes burning as silent tears stream down them.  
“I think I know what will help you feel better.” Richard says, opening the door and coming into the room.  
You shake your head and clench your eyes shut. You don’t want any more medicine. You don’t want any more of those gross meal drinks. You just want everything to stop.  
Someone sits on the edge of the bed and you burry your face in the pillow.  
“Hey buddy,” A hand gently shakes your shoulder. “Is this how you greet an old pal?”  
You look up from the pillow and see Sans sitting on the edge of the bed, his usual grin gone.  
“Come here kiddo.” Sans helps you sit up and pulls you close as you look at him in disbelief, you thought that you weren’t allowed to see them. “It’s okay. I’m here now. You’re going to be okay.”  
You ask him how he’s here? You thought that they weren’t allowed to come see you… Or that they didn’t want to come see you…  
“Trust me, if I coulda found a way to teleport everyone here they would have made me.” Sans chuckles. “Everyone’s worried about you, haven’t stopped since the barrier.” His smile falls a bit and he pushes your bangs back gently to look at your face. “Papyrus is going to loose his skull when he sees how thin you are now. I thought I told you that you CAN’T be a skeleton?”  
You smile softly and Richard clears his throat a little.  
“No one can know about this.” Richard tells you both. “I’m only doing this because… It’s what Frisk needs. But breaking a court order could cost both Sarah and I our jobs.”  
“No one will know.” Sans promises. “No one can track me when I teleport and no one back home will breathe a word of this to anyone.”  
Richard nods and sighs a little before ruffling your hair.  
“I’ll be back in a bit.” Richard says before leaving, quietly closing the door.  
You hug Sans tightly, clinging to him with all the strength you have.  
“I’m sorry I haven’t been here for you.” Sans squeezes you to him. “We all want to be. Trust me we all just about lost it when Gaster gave you over to the humans and they hid you.”  
You nod and fight to keep the tears back.  
“It’s okay…” Sans says as you struggle to not cry. “It’s okay kiddo. Let it out. You can cry. I won’t judge you for it.” His hand rubbing your back. “I’m not going to leave you alone again. None of us will.” He winks and smile. “I even brought you a present.”  
He reaches into the pocket of the green jacket he was wearing with a grey hoodie underneath and produced your cellphone. Except, it wasn’t cracked or damaged from fighting and constantly dropping it as it had been in the previous timeline. It looks brand new.  
“Just text me when you’re free and I’ll pop right in.” Sans tells you as you take the phone.  
You nod and put the phone under your pillow before looking back at him. You say you’re sorry….  
“What’re you sorry about?” Sans asks confusedly moving to sit beside you at the head of the bed and ruffling your hair. “This isn’t your fault… If Gaster hadn’t given you over to the humans before Toriel and Asgore could get the human politicians to agree to the terms again you would’ve never left our sight.”  
You go quiet and let yourself fall to the side, your head landing on his legs. You tell him you’ve never felt so bad before… Even when you hadn’t slept in months. Even when the nightmares had been so bad. You’d never felt so awful.  
“I know kid…” Sans gently pets your head. “It’s okay now though. I’m here.” He checks his phone. “One sec.”  
Your head flops to the pillow and you look around, suddenly alone. For just one brief second you begin to panic but the Sans reappears holding something in each hand.  
“The second tree dad called Paps started reheating some of his latest creations.” Sans tells you, a steaming plate of spaghetti in each hand. “He thought you’d miss your favorite food.”  
You blink at him before a smile finally breaks across your face as Sans sits back beside you on the bed. Papyrus’ spaghetti was just what you needed and it made your stomach stop hurting.  
“Feeling a bit better?” Sans asks as both of your empty plates and forks float to the floor in blue magic.  
You nod and rest your head on his legs, still smiling contently.  
“I’m glad.” Sans chuckles. “We’re going to get through this. Everything will be alright kiddo, you’ll see. If this time is like the last then the adoption paperwork will be signed on Monday and we’ll bring you home with us. We’ll have a get together and then get you settled with whoever you want to stay with. Toriel and Asgore have already said that they’d love to have you. Undyne and Alphys have a second bedroom that they’ve said has your name all over it if you want to stay with them, fair warning though I’m pretty sure you’ll end up in the royal guard if you choose them. If you want to come stay with me, Paps, and Gaster then there’s a room right in between Pap’s and mine that’s all yours.” He pets your head as you begin to doze. “If you wanna just run around between our houses too that’s alright. We all live pretty close to each other.”  
You giggle at that aand say it’d be like the Underground then.  
“Heh,” Sans chuckles. “kinda yeah. Although, I really hope that Undyne’s house doesn’t catch on fire again. The houses are pretty close together this time, better planning and some monsters already set up some farms. Also got more shops set up faster this time too. It’s kinda weird, like everyone knows what to do this time. Last time we were all kinda at a loss with all that land…”  
You ask him to tell you about the reservation now. How’s it different? What shops are up? Where does he and all of your friends live on it?  
“Well…” Sans leans back, continuing to pet your head. “A bit more organized now. We actually have a main street and a lot of monsters are setting up shop there. Muffet has a bakery up and her prices aren’t too bad actually. Grillby’s is up and running, so you know where I spend most of my days.” He winks at you with a chuckle. “I’ll take you there for lunch once all this is settled. Mettaton is off doing what he does but there’s an MTT burger joint in the works. Some stores with nic-nacs.” He chuckles and rubs his skull. “I know there’s other places but I stick mostly to Grillby’s…”  
That makes you laugh and you ask him if you can explore them all when you come home?  
“Sure.” Sans winks. “Paps and my house is on the back end of New Home, near the mountain. It’s really quiet out where we are. Paps got his convertible again and don’t ask me how he did it because I’m still not entirely sure. Undyne and Alphys are a little ways up near the lake. Asgore and Toriel are center of the reservation again. We’re all down the same road from them though so it’s not that hard to find each other.”  
Nervously you ask about Chara and Asriel.  
“They’re around.” Sans says. “I don’t see much of Chara, but I’ve talked to Asriel a few times. He seems like a good kid, if I didn’t know any better I wouldn’t have ever guess that we was that weed.” His hand stills on your head. “Are you afraid of them?”  
You remain silent.  
“I don’t think anyone could blame you if you were.” Sans offers. “I mean… After what Asriel did as Flowey… Let’s not even think about Chara… It’s okay if you are. None of us are going to let anything happen to you though. We’re all here for you Frisk.”  
You nod, a yawn escaping your mouth. You ask if he’ll visit again?  
“Just send me a text.” Sans says. “Just two more days and then we’ll get you home.” He ruffles your hair a bit more aggressively. “And as soon as your home you’re so grounded that coffee will be jealous!”  
Your head shoots up and you ask him why?!  
“Heh, kidding.” He chuckles and winks at you as you sit up.  
You scowl and then giggle, tackling him with a hug, while saying that wasn’t nice.  
“You’re laughing aren’t you?” Sans grins at you. “You know I do have half a mind to ground you, might actually keep you from running off for a change.”  
You stick your tongue out at him and his grin widens.  
“What?” He asks. “Got a bone to pick with me?”  
You think about it and then shake your head, settling back down beside him and snuggling close. No, you tell him, just missed him.  
“I know kiddo.” Sans chuckles, his hand petting your head. “We’ve all missed you too. But now you can talk to us whenever you want, just be careful that the folks here don’t find that phone alright?”  
You nod.  
“Good.” Sans smiles at you. “Go to sleep okay? Just gotta get through tomorrow and Monday. In the last timeline the judge talked to the humans that had been helping Toriel and Asgore with the transition for a few minutes and then he signed off on the adoption agreement. It should be pretty quick.” He ruffles your hair as you smile sleepily up at him. “Just hang in a bit longer for us Frisk. Once we get you home everything will be alright. Paps will make us spaghetti. We’ll lay on the couch stuffed. We’ll nap and watch cop shows. Summer’s coming and there’s a lake by Undyne and Alphys’ place that looks great for swimming.”  
You mumble sleepily that you don’t know how to swim.  
“I’m pretty sure we can figure out how to teach ya.” Sans chuckles, then pauses. “You’d run around Waterfall and the Dump… And you couldn’t swim?”  
You nod a little.  
“Heh….” Sans chuckles a little as he pets your head gently. “Don’t worry…. We’ll teach you…. Heck, Undyne’s the best fish for the job.”  
You giggle at the pun as your eyes close.  
When you wake up next Sans is gone and so are the spaghetti plates. You reach under the pillow and find the cell phone.

Chatted with Tree Dad, all’s good. Text if you need anything. –Sans.

It’s three in the morning and you look around the room, feeling better than you had in a long time. You text back thank you before you creep out of bed and wonder to the window. Sans had said only two more days and you’d be going home. The thought of home, of being close to your friends, fills you with DETERMINATION.  
The next morning you’re awake before anyone else and knock on Rachel’s door.  
“S’too early mommy.” The girl protests sleepily as you creep in.  
Holding the purple octopus you go up to the bed and thank her for the toy.  
“Yeah…” Rachel stretches in her blankets before her eyes open up. “You’re up!” She’s suddenly awake, grinning from ear to ear. “Do you feel better? Do you think you’ll want to play today?”  
You nod but first you want to ask her a question…  
“Okay?” Rachel looks confused.  
Hugging the toy you ask her… If you went back with the monsters… Would she still be your friend too?  
“Duh.” Rachel gives you a dry look. “I’ll always be your friend silly! I’m your big sister!” She tackles you in a hug and you both fall to the ground.  
You look at her confused and ask if she’s serious? She won’t be mad if you went back with the monsters?  
“Of course not.” Rachel grins at you. “Besides, daddy said you’re coming to my school next fall so you better study to get into my class! And you know Mettaton right? If you’re living with the monsters I get to meet him right?” She grins widely. “Maddie will be so jealous! And I haven’t met any monsters yet, they stay on their reservation is what the teachers at school said. I wanna meet them too!” Rachel sits up as a wide, relieved, smile breaks out on your face. “Are they a lot of fun? Are they nice? Are they scary?”  
You tell her that all of your friends are nice and ask if she can keep a secret?  
“Duh.” Rachel rolls her eyes. “I keep lots of secrets. Like… I played footsies with John last week at lunch!”  
You ask what footsies are and Rachel sighs, patting your head.  
“You NEED me as a big sister.” She says before grinning. “Don’t worry, I’ll teach you everything! So, what’s the secret you wanna tell me?”  
You reach into your pocket and tell her that one of your friends brought you a cell phone last night and… You wanna take a picture with her… To show them… Your big sister…  
“O… M… G!” She squees excitedly, her voice hushing quickly. “You have a CELL PHONE?!”  
You nod and show her the apps on it and everything.  
“I want and Undernet account!” Rachel demands and she flicks through your account. “Where are your pictures?! Everyone who’s anyone on the internet has at least a bajiollion selfies, don’t you watch the news?!”  
You shake your head and she sighs, opening the camera app.  
“We got work to do.” She sighs. “Okay! I’m gonna make a sign for the door so that mommy and daddy don’t bother us and you pull out my hats! We’re gonna do what the celebrities do!”  
You grin and for the next hour you and Rachel take hundreds of photos together. She lends you cloths and you both dress up in costumes for more pictures.  
“Kids?” Richard knocks on the door. “Are you already awake?”  
Rachel quickly shoves your phone under her bed as the door opens.  
“Daddy!” She protests. “Can’t you READ! The signs says PRIVATE fashion show!”  
“What?” Richard chuckles, smiling at both of you. “Aren’t daddies VIPS?”  
“To the living room show, yeah.” Rachel rolls her eyes. “But the bedroom show is only for me and Frisk!”  
“Oh, okay.” Richard smiles widely. “Well, I’m going to go make cinnamon rolls whenever you two fashionistas decide that you’re done.”  
“’Kay!” Rachel grins, pushing him out the door and closing it before grinning at you. “Now we have to upload all the pictures!”  
You nod and sit beside Rachel as she selects all the pictures and tags them in a status that read: FASHION SHOW WITH MY BIG SISTER!!! :-D  
The phone begins to upload 257 photos that you had both taken, estimating that it’ll take several hours…  
“Big sister duties are under wraps!” Rachel cheers, giving you your phone. “Welp, I’m gonna get dressed for breakfast because daddy makes the best cinnamon rolls. You should too! We’ll check on out cult following later.”  
You nod and go back to the other bedroom with the octopus and cellphone. Stashing your phone under the mattress you quickly get dressed and head to the bathroom.  
“We’re going to be famous and popular.” Rachel grins as you both brush your teeth and brush your hair. “Then we’re gonna go to red carpets and walk on them like the movie stars do and wear all sorts of pretty cloths.”  
You tell her that all sounds nice, but napping sounds just as good to you.  
“Uh!” Rachel groans and rolls her eyes before leading you down stairs. “You’re such a limp noodle Frisk!”  
“A limp what?” Richard has a brow at you both as you come into the kitchen, Sarah setting the table with plates and breakfast fixing. “Do you know what a limp noodle means Rachel?”  
“Duh!” Rachel rolls her eyes. “It’s like spaghetti.”  
“Its also a term used for a man who…” Sarah trails off. “It’s an insult some people use on man who get stage fright.”  
“Yeah, that’s why Frisk is a limp noodle!” Rachel says as you both sit at the table. “They’d rather nap than be famous!”  
“Just don’t go around school calling people limp noodles alright?” Richard laughs as he brings a hot pan full of cinnamon rolls over to the table, they’re slathered with a thick coat of white icing. “How’re you feeling today Frisk?”  
Much better, you tell them, and apologize for missing the aquarium.  
“It’s alright.” Sarah assures you. “You know children, it’s a nice day outside. How about you play in the back yard and we can have a picnic back there later?”  
“We can play Equestria girls!” Rachel exclaims excitedly. “I’ll be Twilight Sparkle and Frisk can be Sunset Shimmer! Daddy will you be the bad guy?”  
“Of course.” Richard gives a fake evil laugh as Sarah puts fat cinnamon rolls on everyone’s plate.  
The day was spent running between the backyard, house, and front yard. Richard and Sarah didn’t want you or Rachel running up the road so you couldn’t do that but it was fun at least. By lunch the sky was getting dark though and storm clouds were rolling in. Lunch was quiet, both you and Rachel tired from playing.  
As the rain began to pour you were both bundled up in blankets and put in front of the television with MLP on. Rachel was dozing within a few minutes though and you went up to the bedroom. Closing the door you pulled out your cellphone. The pictures had all uploaded and there were, to your surprise hundreds of comments from all the monsters you’d met and befriended in the Underground. There was also a few texts.

Did Sans give you the cellphone? –Alphys.

You reply that he did and ask how she’s doing? 

HUMAN!! YOU HAVE A SISTER?!- Papyrus.

You reply that Rachel’s your friend and she calls herself your big sister.

Dear Frisk, I saw the photos on the Undernet and am glad to see you are well my child. Are you having fun where you are? Are you feeling well? Are the people you are with taking care of you? My apologies but you look so pale and thin in the pictures. There is a meeting with the humans tomorrow. The humans that Asgore and I have been working with have said that you will be able to return to us after the Judge says you can. I cannot wait to see you my child. I, Asriel, Chara, and Asgore all send our love. –Toriel.

The long text makes you smile and you reply back that Sans snuck you your phone and you can’t wait to see everyone either. You tell her that you love her too and that you’ve just missed them all so much. At the end of the text you add that you can’t wait to have more of her pies and ask that she passes on your love to everyone too.

Saw the pics on the Undernet, having a good time kiddo?-Sans

You check the door really quickly before texting Sans back that you are and tell him that you haven’t felt this good in a long time. You tell him about what you did today, how Rachel said you need a bajillion pictures on your Undernet account. Then you tell him about playing outside and how Richard and Sarah wouldn’t let you go up the road even if they were following you, which was annoying because the monsters let you wonder around the whole reservation alone and it wasn’t a problem. You ask him what he’s doing? How’s Papyrus? When you come home to NewHome Reservation could Rachel visit? You tell him about how she wants to meet monsters and is one of Mettaton’s fans.  
After you send the last text you tuck the phone away and pick up the octopus that they’d given you before heading back downstairs.  
“We were wondering where you ran off to.” Richard says as you come back to the living room where Rachel was napping on the couch. “Are you having a better day Frisk?”  
You nod and sit on the couch beside Rachel.  
“Good.” Richard smiles at you. “So… Has anyone told you about tomorrow?”  
You nod and tell him that court is tomorrow and then you can go home.  
“Maybe.” Richard cautions. “If the judge says you can go back with the monsters you can.” He pauses and then takes a deep breath. “You’re also welcome to stay here. Sarah and I would be happy to adopt you if that’s what you want. I know that you are close to the monsters but they are not your only option Frisk.”  
You pause, and look nervously at him. They’d been really nice to you and hadn’t gotten mad once. You hadn’t been yelled at here and you’d been well cared for… Could you stay here?  
Tentatively, nervously, you say that you’ve already been a lot of trouble for them…  
“You’re dealing with stuff.” Richard shrugs. “We understand that. Believe it or not Sarah and I have both been in similar situations. Even Rachel had her moments when she was younger.”  
You ask how so? You’re genuinely curious.  
“Well…” Richard takes a deep breath. “Rachel was born sick. She had a type of cancer that until last year she’d fought her entire life. It’s called Leukemia. Do you know about it?”  
You shake your head.  
“Well,” Richard sighs. “Not many kids beat it and it kept Rachel from doing a lot of things she wanted to like playing outside and having birthday parties.”  
You nod, you understand that. You ask him what else?  
“Sarah’s parents died when she was a little younger than you are now.” Richard tells you. “She was in the orphanage system until she was an adult and went to college. She understands some of what you’ve gone through.”  
You ask him was he an orphan too? Is that why he understands you?  
“No, I have great parents that are still alive and very much pulling my hair out.” Richard chuckles and cracks his knuckles nervously. “No… I um… I was in the military and… Some of the things I saw… Some of the things I did… They really bothered me for a long time… They still do sometimes.” He meets your eyes, his gaze sad. “Sometimes, when I look at you... There’s a look in your eyes that I used to see when I would look at my friends who were with me in the military... Sometimes I see it when I look in the mirror too… You understand that don’t you? Seeing things… Doing things… That haunt you.”  
You gulp and drop your head.  
“It’s okay.” Richard tells you, getting up from the chair and crouching before you. “It’s okay Frisk. Everyone makes mistakes… It’s part of being human.”  
You shake your head and mumble that what you did…. You should be burning in Hell for.  
“How about we go to my study?” Richard suggests, glancing at Rachel. “And we can swap stories. Because… I’m right there with you buddy.”  
You look at Rachel, still napping contently, before nodding and taking his hand. Richard takes you to his study, a large room with lots of book shelves. There’s a fat leather couch on one wall and a desk with a laptop sitting closed in the center of the room.  
“Make yourself comfy.” Richard gestures to the couch.  
You climb onto it as Richard opens the laptop and types quickly on it.  
“So…” Richard sighs, bringing the laptop to you and sitting on the couch. “This was me.”  
On the screen is a picture of a man who didn’t have a beard and had really short hair wearing a uniform that looked really dirty and was all different hues of green. In his hands was a black rifle and thick helmet sat on his head. He was really thin and didn’t look anything like the big burly dad beside you with his fluffy beard and head full of hair.  
“I was nineteen in this picture.” Richard tells you, flipping through the photos. “I was in an infantry unit… Do you know what infantry is?”  
You shake your head.  
“Well,” He takes a deep breath. “In the military there’s a whole bunch of different jobs that people can do. Some people are doctors. Some do paper work. Some are teachers. And then there are the people that do the actual fighting. I was one of the people that did the fighting.”  
You nod and ask if he ever had to fight?  
“Yes.” Richard replies, closing the lap top and putting it on the ground. “I did a lot of fighting.”  
You think about it for a moment, remembering your own fights in the Underground. Nervously, you ask him if he’s ever had to kill anyone?  
“Yes...” Richard tells you, his eyes meeting yours. “And to this day I will never forget what I did. If I hadn’t, they would have killed me. I know that. But that doesn’t make it any easier.” His gaze softens some. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to but I just want to ask you Frisk… Have you ever had to fight someone?”  
You’re quiet for a long time, the memories filling your head. Maybe… He had to fight people too… He had to kill people too…. Maybe….  
“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it.” Richard assures you. “It took me a long time to talk about it too.”  
You shake your head as your eyes go blurry. You explain that you’d been so mad… And scared… And the monsters had looked so scary at first… And you’d been so alone… You hadn’t realized that they were so fragile… You didn’t know that they were just dust and magic…. You didn’t know that if you hit them they’d die…. You’d never killed anything before….  
“Did they hurt you?” Richard asks you softly.  
You tell him that some of them tried too… But humans are stronger than monsters, you explain, and you were more DETERMINED. If you wanted to you could kill all of the Monsters, completely wipe them out in a genocide of dust and violence.  
“You sound pretty sure of that.” Richard’s voice is grim.  
You tell him that you are, you know you could, but… The tears begin to stream down your cheeks. You didn’t want to… You didn’t want to hurt them. You hadn’t meant to. It’s just that… You’d been so scared and so alone… You’d just wanted to get out of the Underground.  
Richard’s arm slowly wraps around your shoulders as you cry. You tell him you feel so bad for what you did to them. You knew they suffered and that you had caused it. You knew that they had been in pain because of you. You’d been MERCILESS. You could have run away. But you didn’t. You just wanted them to get away from you and let you go home… But you had no home…  
“You like to talk to that skeleton.” Richard says gently, his voice soothing as he wipes away your tears with a tissue. “How’d you get to be close to him if you were afraid of the monsters?”  
You pause… You couldn’t tell him about the RESETs… But you wanted to explain.  
You couldn’t beat Sans, you tell him. He was too strong. He was the weakest of the Boss Monsters, that’s what everyone said, but he was so strong and fast and clever. If you just showed a little MERCY he’d let you go, no matter how mad he was. He gave you every chance…  
You tell him about Papyrus who’d just capture you and take you back to his house. How through Papyryus you had gotten to know Undyne and you’d had a super fun cooking lesson. You tell him about how Toriel had been so afraid you’d get hurt and had tried to keep you with her at her home in the Ruins but… Phrasing your words carefully… You’d hurt her and ran into the rest of the Underground… You tell him about how Asgore, the King, hadn’t wanted to fight you and Toriel had told him not to so he hadn’t. You tell him about how Mettaton had only tried to stop you because you’d hurt other monsters and even in the end they had let you go… You tell him about how Alphys had tried to help you through the Underground but had tried to get you to stay because she hadn’t wanted you to have to fight either. None of the monsters had WANTED to fight… They’d just wanted to be free…  
And you’d been afraid and angry… And had turned so many of them to dust… But....  
“Do the monsters you want to live with know you hurt other monsters?” Richard asks softly. “Will they want to punish you for hurting the monsters?”  
You shake your head. You tell him that the only ones who knew were Sans and Gaster… Flowey had known but…. Flowey was gone now… And they had taken the most care of you since. They’d fixed what you’d done… Brought back the monsters you’d hurt… They were just dust and magic after all… They’d helped you fix everything you’d done... They’d always tried to help you even when you did the exact opposite of what they said to do…  
“Alright…” Richard says softly. “Would you like a hug Frisk?”  
You nod and hold out your arms. Richard picked you up the way he picked up Rachel and squeezed you tightly to him.  
“It’s okay Frisk.” He sooths. “Thank you for telling me. It’s okay now… You don’t have to be scared…” His hand gently pets your head as you begin to cry again. “Even if the judge tomorrow doesn’t let you go back with the monsters… You have a home here.” He smiles and gently kisses the top of your head. “Even if the judge says you can go back with them you don’t have you. You can stay here with us. We can be your family if you let us.”  
Sniffling and hugging him tightly you thank him. You tell him that he’s made you feel better and thank him for telling you about what he had to do in the past. It made you feel better… Less alone… You ask him if he’ll tell on you? Tell the judge you mean.  
“I don’t think that’ll be necessary.” Richard says. “What happened down there… I think it should stay down there… I left my burdens back where I had found them and I think that’d be best for you too… But you should feel safe enough to tell someone about it…” He gives you a tight squeeze. “You can tell me whatever you want whenever you’re ready. I’m not one of your monster friends but… Maybe I can be your human dad when you need one.” He offers you a smile. “Sound fair?”  
You nod and ask him if he’ll ever tell you more about what he had to do?  
“Someday.” He chuckles. “We’ll trade stories, how’s that?”  
You nod and smile, the tightness in your chest easing some. You ask him if he thinks you’re a bad kid?  
“I think you’re a kid who’s gone through too much.” Richard assures you, letting you sit back on the couch. “But I think that about a lot of kids I see go through the system. You’re not a bad kid Frisk and you certainly don’t belong in Hell for what you’ve done.” He chuckles and ruffles your hair. “Maybe sent to a club or extra-circular so that you can have a good outlet for your anger. But we’ll work on that.”  
“Frisk?” Rachel’s voice calls from the other side of the house.  
“And maybe you just need a friend.” Richard smiles as you perk up. “Go on, Rachel will start looking for you if you don’t.”  
You grin and thank him again. Before you run out of the room you hug Richard tightly.  
Keeping your voice soft you thank your human dad for talking to you before running after Rachel.


	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG IT'S FINALLY HAPPENING!!!  
> Yay! Happiness! Parties! Food! Dancing!  
> Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand it's shit gain...  
> OH FUCK VOID DAD AND VOID BOY GOIN' 0 TO OVER 9000 LIKE SNAP SON!

The next morning went by like a normal Monday except Rachel got picked up for school. After Rachel was gone Richard put on a black suit and tie, Sarah dressed you in a nice but formal black outfit and brushed your hair smooth then put on a black dress herself. She lets you hold onto the octopus that Rachel had picked for you from the aquarium as you prepare to leave.  
“Well?” Sarah asks as she brings you downstairs.  
“Shannon wants Frisk to come to make a statement and then the judge will decide if they can stay for the rest of the hearing or not.” Richard says, clicking his phone off.   
“Okay so take separate cars?” Sarah asks.  
“Yeah, just in case.” Richard nods and then gives you a smile. “Looking sharp Frisk. Ready to go see a judge?”  
You nod and smile nervously.  
Richard takes the SUV after moving the car seat to Sarah’s small black car that was parked in the garage.   
“I’m going to wait a few minutes for you to go then follow.” Sarah says, leading you to her car as Richard puts the car seat in.  
“Good, I’ll call and tell you if there’s any issues.” Richard nods. “Be safe,” He kisses Rachel quickly. “Be good Frisk. I’ll see you in a bit.” He ruffles your hair before getting into his SUV.   
The drive to the courthouse was quiet and you noticed that Sarah was looking around a lot more, as though she were looking for someone outside the windows.  
As the courthouse came into view Sarah’s phone rang and she answered it on blue tooth in the car.  
“You’re on blue tooth.” Sarah said by way of greeting.  
“Drive past the court house and do a lap then park in the back.” It was Richard’s voice, he was all business now.   
You frown, what was going on?  
As you look out the window, passing the front of the big white courthouse, you see a mass of people with signs and cameras. You glimpse your friends making their way through the crowd with men dressed in black suits and sunglasses keeping the mob of people at bay. You see all of your friends; Toriel, Asgore, Papyrus, Sans, Undyne, Alphys, and you can even see the tall form of Gaster. As the car passes by Gaster’s head follows it and a wide smile spreads across his face as he waves.   
You ask what’s going on?  
“The media’s here and looks like protesters.” Sarah said as the courthouse passes. “Don’t worry Frisk, you just be you today.”  
You nod and wonder why there were protesters? This hadn’t happened in the last timeline had it?  
Sarah takes you far up the road and then makes a right and then another at the end of that block. She drives in a few circles before coming around the back of the courthouse where Richard stood with two armed men.  
“Sherriff Davis is letting us use the back entrance.” Richard says as Sarah pulls up the car. “I’ll take Frisk in now, opening statements are already underway. Do you mind parking and meeting us inside? I’m taking Frisk to the interview room. Judge Conley doesn’t want them near all the media.”   
Sara nods as Richard lifts you out of your car seat and is lead inside by the Deputies. Richard climbs the stairs two at a time as the Deputies lead you up and exit out a door to a quiet hall.  
You hug the stuffed octopus tightly to you as you’re taken to an empty room with a table and two chairs. Sitting on the table was a microphone and two pairs of headphones connected to it. You look around confusedly and ask Richard where your friends are?  
“They’re in the court room.” Richard tells you, setting you in one of the chairs as a Deputy walks into the room. “I need you to stay here now Frisk. Someone will be in shortly to ask you questions. You need to tell them the truth alright?” He smiles and ruffles your hair. “All of this will be over soon and then you can go home.”  
You ask which home? With your friends or back to the foster home?  
“I’m hoping to have an answer for you in a bit.” Richard smiles at you. “Where ever you end up after today though Frisk, you will be loved and cared for. Do you understand?”  
You nod and sit silently, playing with your octopus.  
After a few minutes a man in a suit comes in and gives you a warm smile.  
“Hello Frisk.” The man says. “I’m George Schmitz, Judge Conley wants me to ask you some questions. Are you alright with that?”  
You nod.  
“Good.” He smiles at you and sits across the table as the Deputy closes the door. “If you could put on one of the sets of headphones we can get started.”  
You not and put on one of the big headphones.   
“Alright.” Mr. Schmitz voice is muffled as he turns on the microphone and your headphones click on. “Can you hear me Frisk?” His voice comes through the microphone.  
You nod.  
“Alright, can you hear us your Honor?” Mr. Schmitz asks into the microphone.   
“Yes.” Another voice comes on and you give a small yelp of surprise. “You’re loud and clear in here. You may begin.”  
“Alright.” Mr. Schmitz smiles at you. “Frisk… Could you tell me everything that happened after you ran away from the orphanage?”  
You nod and tell him that you ran up Mt. Ebbott. As you talk you feel something stir around your soul. You keep talking and but slowly… Your words become guided. Everything you say is what you mean to say but certain words change when you speak. Instead of Toriel attacking you with her fire magic at the exit to the ruins you say that she was desperate to stop you and blocked the way with her fire magic. Papyrus played puzzles with you, he wasn’t trying to capture you with puzzles. You fell off the bridges in Waterfall, Undyne’s spears didn’t break the bridge. Little things, details, were altered as your mouth and voice explained what you remembered. It wasn’t wrong, just said differently. It was all the truth in your opinion.   
He wasn’t there but you could feel Gaster’s presence in that room. He guided what you said into the microphone. His magic was at work there.   
“And how have you been with the Mackelhaneys?” Mr. Schmitz asked after you finished. “Have you been well?”  
You nod and tell him that they take really good care of you. You hold up the octopus and tell him that Rachel got this for you because you got sick and couldn’t go to the Aquarium.   
“I see. Do you like living with them?” He asks.  
You nod and say it’s nice. They’re making you go to school next fall though and you don’t like that. You tell him you miss your friends a lot and you feel sad… But Richard and Sarah and Rachel always try to cheer you up.  
“What will you do if the court today says you can’t go back with the monsters?” Mr. Schmitz asks.   
You feel your chest grow tight and you have to take a deep breath. You tell him… You’ll be sad… And lonely… And you’ll probably cry the entire night… But… If that’d make life easier for them… If the monsters didn’t want you anymore after all the trouble you’d put them through…. You’d understand.  
You try to smile as a tear rolls down your cheek.  
“There’s no need to cry Frisk.” Mr. Schmitz says as the Deputy hands you a box of tissues. “It’s just a question.”  
You nod and tell him that you love them but you’d stay away if that would be better for them. Richard and Sarah have already been so kind to you… Rachel was a big sister to you and helped you feel better when you felt like the loneliness would crush you… You’d ask if they’d keep you if the monsters didn’t want you anymore. At least until you were old enough to live on your own, so twelve? You say that you think you could manage on your own at twelve. You’d find a job and make a good living.  
“That’s not going to happen Frisk.” Mr. Schmitz chuckles. “The courts wouldn’t let you live on your own at twelve.”  
You ask why? You’re a very capable person and you had DETERMINATION, even if you don’t have much of it right now.  
“I’m sure you are very determined.” Mr. Schmitz chuckles before speaking into the microphone. “Your Honor? Is there anything else that needs asked?”  
“No, that’s all.” The voice says on the other end. “Frisk? Are you still there?”  
You say yes into the microphone.  
“We’re going to wrap this up and then you’re going home. So sit tight, alright?” The voice says.  
You nod and then say yes when you realize that they couldn’t see you nod.  
“Alright.” Mr. Schmitz took the headphones from you. “Stay in here with Deputy Brookes, alright?”  
You nod.   
Time passes by slowly in the windowless room. You kick your feet in the chair and after a while lunch is brought in. A kid’s meal from a popular fast food place with a burger, fries, and milk. Deputy Brookes stays with you and after lunch has a deck of cards brought up. The deputy sits with you at the table and you play card games for a while.  
“Deputy Brookes” A voice comes through the radio on their shoulder.  
“Yeah?” The Deputy asks into the radio.  
“Courts been released.” The voice comes through. “Guardianships been determined. Family M will be arriving for the kid shortly.”   
Family M? You think about it and realize. Mackelhaney… So… They weren’t going to let you go back with the monsters… Or…  
The thought forms slowly in your mind as the deputy cleans up the cards.   
They decided you were too much trouble…  
You take a deep breath and fight back the tears. Richard and Sarah were nice and kind… Rachel was nice to you… You hadn’t been yelled at once in their house… You’d be okay…  
Someone knocks on the door and the Deputy goes to it.  
“Understood.” They nod and look back at you. “Grab your toy kid. Your family’s out there waiting for you.”  
Taking a deep breath, and moving slowly, you hug the octopus to you and get out of the seat.  
Slowly you go up to the Deputy and he takes your hand.   
You’re walked down the hall to an elevator where you board with Deputy Brookes and ground floor is picked.   
“Nervous?” The Deputy asks you.  
You nod but tell him you’re happy this is finally over with. At least now you know…  
As the elevator slows you drop your head and stare at your feet. This was harder than you thought… You just wish that…  
“Hey twerp!” Undyne’s distinct voice makes your head shoot up as you’re lead out of the elevator.   
You’re swarmed by monsters, not just the boss ones either. The Temmies, Ms. Muffett, Grillby, all of them were there. The dogs get to you next and you’re buried under a mountain of floof all howling:  
“PETS!”   
You laugh as the Sherriff’s deputies come out in mass to try and contain the chaos but are just tackled down when the dogs all think that they’re offering pets.  
“Need a hand?” A boney hand is offered to you and you grin up at Sans before taking it. “I told you we wouldn’t give up on you.” He winks at you with a big grin. “Come on, there’s few folks that have really missed you.”  
You look up and see everyone… Toriel, Asgore, Gaster, Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys, Mettaton, Asriel, and Chara were all standing patiently as the lobby was over run with monsters. Beside them stood Richard and Sarah, both smiling at you.  
“My child.” Toriel reaches you first, wrapping her arms around you and hugging you tightly. “I was so worried that we would never see you again. How are you? Are you well?” She pulls back and looks at you. “You’ve grown so thin and pale. We’ll take you home right away and I’ll make you a pie.” Her hand begins to glow with healing magic and your HP bar appears. 20/20. “At least you’ve been well cared for.” She smiles at Richard and Sarah. “Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Mackelhaney.”  
“Richard and Sarah are just fine.” Sarah smiles at her then at you. “I don’t think I’ve seen Frisk smile so much in all the weeks we’ve had them. It’s nice to see you smile.”  
You nod and then giggle as Toriel puts you down.  
“HUMAN!!!” Papyrus was instantly upon you as the monsters, your friends, fought to get to you first. “I’VE MISSED YOU SO MUCH! HOW ARE YOUE?! ARE YOU WELL?! WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING?! WHY DO YOU LOOK SO SICK?! HAVE YOU NOT BEEN EATING ENOUGH SPAGHETTI?! THEY WOULDN’T LET US VISIT YOU OR BRING YOU MY SPAGHETTI AND I TOLD THEM THAT YOU NEEDED IT!”  
You begin to laugh and hug him tightly.  
You’re swept up in an ocean of your friends as everyone celebrates. This wasn’t like the last time, it was better.   
You’re loaded up into a big van with Toriel, Asgore, Chara, Asriel, and Sans in the back of it with you.  
“Got a little welcome home party planned for you.” Sans tells you with wide grin, buckling you into your first car ride since you came back to the surface that you weren’t in a booster seat. “A few close friends. You know. Something small.”  
You ask who all is coming?  
“All of monster kind…” Chara grumbles as Asgore pulls away from the court house. “Why’d you have to ride with us comedian.”   
“Because Paps is giving Greater Dog a ride back to the reservation.” Sans’ eye flashes once at Chara. “And I wanted to see my kiddo.” He ruffles your hair. “Gotta keep an eye socket on ‘em.”  
You giggle ask who’s really coming?  
“Almost everyone on the reservation.” Asriel turns around excitedly. “We’ve been planning it ever since Sans met your tree dad at that restaurant!”   
You frown and look at Sans before asking when did that happen?  
“You remember that day you went for testing for school?” Sans asks. “The place he got the spaghetti from? He and I met and had a long talk. Made a deal.” He winks at you.  
You ask what deal?  
“Well, he wanted to meet all of us.” Sans ticks off.  
“Which he did!” Asriel grins.  
“He wants you to come talk to him once in a while for therapy.” Sans ticks off.   
“Which you will.” Toriel calls to the back of the car.  
“We all had to take a safety class.” Sans counts.  
“Everyone but Undyne passed.” Asgore chuckles. “She’s retaking it this week.”  
“And he and I will meet up once a month for coffee.” Sans grins at you. “Oh, and his daughter gets to visit you as often as you both want. In exchange he and Sarah would support us getting custody of you.”  
You grin widely and hug him tightly. You tell him you’re so happy, you never would have ever thought in a million years you’d be this happy.  
“Heh,” Sans chuckles, squeezing you to him. “This is just the start kiddo. I told you, everything will be better from here on out.”   
They hadn’t been lying. Monsters, by the dozens, came out to celebrate. You were greeted like a hero, tossed up in the air by the monsters who thanked you for breaking the barrier. Mettaton and Papyrus arrived a little later, having gone by Richard and Sarah’s house to get your things. Once at Toriel’s and Asgore’s house, which was much the same as it had been in the last timeline, you change into MTT brand new cloths. It was a huge block party that went all the way up the main road of the reservation. Grillby was grilling burgers. Ms. Muffett’s treats were being passed out everywhere. There were cinnabunnies. MTT brand fast food. Monsters were running around to and from every direction. Music was being played and monsters were dancing in the middle of the street.   
You were smiling and laughing so much that night that your face and lung hurt. But you couldn’t stop, you were so happy. You got to dance with many monsters in between eating and talking to everyone. Even Asgore danced with you a few times and Asriel was always eager to join you for a jitter bug jig. It was so much fun and you wished it would never end.   
Throughout the afternoon, despite how wonderful it was, you couldn’t help but feel that you were being watched. The feeling grew stronger as the sun began to set and the party was cleaned up. You were contently snuggled in Toriel’s arms, sleepy and full from the day.   
“Your Majesties.” Gaster’s voice makes you open your eyes and you smile at him. “Might I suggest that…? Due to the nature of Frisk’s relationship with Chara previously; that they remain separate for the time being?”  
“Of course not Gaster.” Toriel smiles serenely as you look up at her curiously, Papyrus and Sans coming to stand on either side of their father. “Chara loves Frisk, they and Asriel have been so anxious waiting for them to come home.”  
“Yes, but their soul is still very fragile.” Gaster reasons. “While the Prince and Chara’s souls have almost fully healed. They need careful monitoring until they are self-sufficient again.”  
“Toriel and I can help them with that.” Asgore says, coming to stand beside Toriel and resting a hand on her shoulder. “Feel free to rest your magic Gaster. Now that Frisk is back we can take care of ensuring that their soul is stable.”  
“Are you alright staying in the same house as Chara, Frisk?” Sans looks at you directly. “After everything…”  
“What is that supposed to mean Sans?” Toriel asks. “Chara helped Frisk in that battle against the flower.”  
“Yeah but…” Sans’ smile falls.   
You look between Toriel and Asgore and then the skeleton family. If you’re honest then you’re afraid of Chara… Still… Even though they had no control over you now. But… Toriel seemed so happy to have you back and you’ve missed her and Asgore.  
You ask if you can go over to Gaster, Sans, and Papyrus’ house for breakfast tomorrow? Giving Toriel a bright smile.  
“I’m fine with that.” Toriel smiles down at you. “Asriel can walk to you their house, he goes there a lot to spend time with Papyrus.” Her gaze returns to Gaster. “We are grateful for all you’ve done for Frisk; Gaster, Sans, Papyrus. But now let us take care of them. They’re our child.”  
Sans takes a deep breath as Gaster remains silent, only Papyrus seems to have anything to say.  
“I WILL HAVE THE GREATEST BREAKFAST SPAGHETTI IN THE WORLD READY FOR YOU TOMORROW FRISK!” He exclaims excitedly.  
You grin and, casually, suggest that he make… Spaghetti… Pancakes…  
“NYEH?” Papyrus pauses and then his eyes go wide. “WHY HAVE I NOT THOUGHT OF IT BEFORE?! THAT IS AN EXCELLENT IDEA!”  
Wriggling out of Toriel’s arms you hug all of the skeletons tightly and promise to see them in the morning.  
“If you need any of us, we’re just a call away.” Sans promises you softly as Gaster speaks with the King and Queen, putting something in the pocket of the blue hoodie that had once been his.  
You nod softly against his t-shirt and then pull back and grin. Putting your hand into your pocket you feel your cellphone that you had left at Richard and Sarah’s house.   
“Sleep well Frisk.” Gaster kneels to your height and rests his hand on you head. “I look forward to seeing your soul’s progress in the morning.”  
As he speaks to you his voice also resonates in your head. “If you need me reach for your soul. I will know to come for you.”   
You nod firmly and grin before giving Papyrus another big hug.   
Your room at Toriel and Asgore’s house was a lot like it had been in the beginning of the last run. There were some small additions like a poster of Mettaton and a vase of golden flowers on the bedside table but all in all it was the same. Toriel and Asgore both tuck you in and kiss you goodnight as you snuggle back on the soft bed.   
“Sleep well my child.” Toriel tells you, nuzzling her forehead to yours. “I love you.”   
You tell her that you love her too.  
“Get some rest partner.” Asgore grins widely at you, gently petting your hair back and pressing his forehead against yours like Toriel just had. “We’ll see you in the morning.”  
You grin and agree, kissing his nose and surprising him. Asgore chuckles and turns off the light before they both leave.  
You take a deep breath and feel the soft fleece of the MTT pajamas that you were wearing. Mettaton had really gone heavy handed in your wardrobe. You can’t wait to show Rachel all your cloths that wouldn’t be released until the New Year. You’d share them with her, it was the least you could do, and you wonder if she would want to have another fashion show? You wonder if Mettaton would want to do a fashion show with you and Rachel?   
You reach for your phone, still in the pocket of your blue hoodie handing on the headboard of your bed. Fully charged, too many comments on your Undernet account to respond to, and too many photos you’d been tagged in to see them all. You grin and yawn, laying back tiredly.  
Everything would be alright now…  
The door to your room cracks open and you bolt up, eyes wide and nerves suddenly on fire.  
“F-Frisk?” Asriel’s timid voice asks to the dark. “A-Are you awake?”  
Your entire body sighs in relief as you turn on your light and smile at the Prince of monsters who was only a little bigger than you yourself.  
“S-Sorry…” He slips into the room and closes the door. “Did I wake you up?”  
You shake your head and tell him you weren’t asleep yet.   
“Oh… Good…” He looks at you nervously and inches towards you. “Do you… Mind if I?”  
You pat the bed in front of you and ask him what’s up?  
“I just…” Asriel climbs onto the bed and sits in front of you. “I want to… I’m sorry.” He looks up at you, his eyes brimming with tears. “I didn’t m-mean t-to…”   
Asriel dissolves into tears and you ask him what’s wrong? Did he do something bad? Is he alright?  
“I-I” He hiccups. “K-Killed y-you s-so m-many t-times!” He sobs into his hands. “I-I d-didn’t… I d-don’t…”  
You quickly hug Asriel and tell him it’s okay, that wasn’t him. That was Flowey. You know Asriel wouldn’t hurt you. You know he didn’t mean to.  
“B-But I h-hurt you.” He hiccups.  
You tell him it’s fine now as far as you care. The barrier’s broken. He and Chara are free. Everyone’s happy. It doesn’t matter now, not to you at least.  
“R-Really?” Asriel looks at you with large eyes. “Y-You d-don’t care?”  
You shake your head. Not enough to be mad at him and you’d rather be friends anyway. You grin at him and tell him you’d like to be best friends with him, and Chara, if they’d let you.  
“I’d really like that too!” Asriel says quickly before sitting back. “Gaster said your soul is really weak now… Can I?”   
You pull out your soul. It was still mostly purple with a faint sliver of red, but the red was glowing brighter than it had since it’d broken which you think is good?  
“That’s all that’s left?” Asriel’s eyes go wide and he pulls out his own.  
You see that just over half of his soul… is yours… It glowed bright red on one half and the purest white on the other. The white extrended like tendrils into the red and hugged it tightly to itself as the red pulsed healthily.  
“I’m so sorry Frisk.” Asriel’s eyes were beginning to water again.  
You quickly shake your head and tell him it’s fine. Everything will be fine now. You even smile and tell him how pretty his soul is. It’d never be that pretty if it were still with you. You’re glad he has it and you hope that he likes it.  
“I love it!” Asriel tells you quickly, pressing it back into his chest. “I take good care of it and… It responds to me… It felt like it did when you let me devour your soul the last time. Like I have a friend with me, all the time… When I was scared when I first woke up but it made me feel better… I feel your DETERMINATION from then in me when I’m scared.” He smiles brightly and giggles a little. “You’re so strong Frisk. This DETERMINATION… I feel like I can do anything with it.”   
You grin and tell him he can. You hope he does what he wants to with it and you hope he’s always so happy with it.  
“I will.” Asriel yawns widely. “I’m going to become super strong again and protect my friends. Like you did.”   
You smile and then yawn.  
“I’m going to go back to bed…” Asriel says and then smiles one more time at you. “Thank you Frisk… For being my friend.”   
You smile in return and thank him for being yours.   
Asriel goes and closes the door behind him. You turn off the light with a small smile on your face before settling back against the pillow.   
Sleep comes easily and for the first time in so long… You dream.   
You’re soaring through the air and then swimming through the ocean. You felt so free. There were no shadows or pain anymore. You’re running through the woods because it was fun. You sing and dance with a mass of people. You throw your hair back and free fall through the sky and land on a soft, fluffy, cloud. You laugh as you sink into the cloud, the fluffy cotton wrapping warmly around you.   
Suddenly, you can’t breath. Something’s wrapped tightly around your throat and you can’t breath or scream.  
“Wakey wakey Frisky.” Your eyes snap open and Chara’s wide grin and red eyes stare at you in the darkness of the bedroom. “That’s better. I wanna talk to you.”   
You gasp but no air comes. You try pry Chara’s hands off your throat but they’re too strong.  
“You broke the rules Frisky.” Chara hisses, their hands tightening around your throat. “You shouldn’t have done that.”   
The room warps around you as you are deprived of air.   
“Oh no, you don’t get to pass out on me.” Chara giggles, releasing your throat.   
As you gasp great lung-fulls of air Chara pulls something that glows softly from their chest. A soul that oozed inky darkness that had spread through what had once been the bright red third of your own soul.  
“You’re still mine Frisky.” Chara squeezes the soul in their hand.  
You jerk as pain shoots through your body, the small fraction of the soul left in you crying out in pain.  
“I’ve been practicing while you’ve been hiding from me.” Chara giggles, squeezing it tighter. “I can do this to you, and Asriel won’t feel a thing. Have you liked my games? I know that the Comedian had to keep giving you pep talks. Did those help the pain?”  
You writhe and try to scream, but Chara squeezes a hand around your throat before you can.  
“You’re going to be my pet Frisk.” Chara hisses in your ear. “You’re going to be my dog and obey my every order. Or else…” She giggles, squeezing both the piece of your soul and your throat tighter. “I’ll make you live in hell.”   
You gasp and the room waivers again around you. Something is rising from your chest and for a second you’re terrified that it’s the little that remained of your soul. Chara is suddenly thrust off you as Gaster’s hand that had been so silent and dormant in you comes to the surface. The hand grabs you by the wrist and pulls you from the bed and room.  
“DoN’t TrY tO rUn AwAy FrOm Me!” Chara screeches as you run at full speed out of the house.   
Gaster’s hand pulls you down the road and sheer panic keeps you running. Chara follows behind you and you can feel their demonic presence getting closer and closer.   
Something big and black looms ahead of you but you keep running, certain that nothing could be worse than Chara.   
You run straight into the darkness and it wraps around you before you fall into it.   
“Do not panic.” Gaster’s broken voice says around you. “You are safe now.”   
You shake uncontrollably as you see Chara stop before him, a red DT blade in their hand.  
“I am tired of you demon…” Gaster’s voice murmurs softly from the darkness as the shadows around Chara grow long. “And I no longer have a reason to show you MERCY.”  
The shadows lunge at Chara and wrap around them before pulling them into the darkness, their muffled screeches echoing.  
Arms wrap around you and the shadows fall away. You’re tremoring violently as Gaster appears.   
“I will deal with them tonight.” Gaster tells you as he begins to walk up the road, away from Toriel and Asgore’s house. “And you will not return there. You will stay near me where my sons and I can protect you.”   
You nod, clutching tightly to his black coat as the tremors become worse. Gaster walks you calmly through the reservation and down a dirt road into the woods. You only pass one other house near a large lake on the walk and stop at the end of the road. There, a two story home sits cozy against the trees. You could see a light on the first floor flickering.  
You’re still shaking as the front door opens for Gaster and he enters the cozy home. You’re immediately in a living room, the television on, and see Sans asleep on the couch with his cellphone in hand.  
“Sans.” Gaster’s voice startles the skeleton.   
“Huh, what?” He looks up sleepily and becomes instantly alert the second he sees you. “What? Frisk? Did something happen?”  
“The anomaly behaved as expected.” Gaster explains, depositing you on the couch beside Sans. “Please make them comfortable and help them calm down while I deal with the anomaly.” He turns to the door to the right of the television that leads down a set of stairs.   
“What the heck?” Sans looks between you and the door that closes on it’s own. “What happened?” He looks back at you as you sit with your knees to your chest, arms wrapped around your head, as you hide you face in your legs and cry. “Frisk? Kiddo? What happened? Are you alright? Why didn’t you call me?”  
You sob uncontrollably, your throat tight and hurting painfully as you struggle to tell him what happened. How Chara had hurt you with your own soul, the piece of your soul that they had taken from you. They’d choked you and told you that you would be their dog and you had to obey them or they’d hurt you.   
Sans pulled you close to him as you cried, your voice coming out in painful wheezes.   
“Where were Toriel and Asgore?” Sans asks angrily. “Why wasn’t someone there to stop them?”  
You shake your head, you don’t know, but it hurts. You tell him that Chara had said that they had been making your soul hurt while you’d been gone. That they’d been practicing making you hurt and not Asriel so that they wouldn’t know.   
Sans’ eyes go black as he listens, his arms shaking with anger as he listens to you sob.  
You realize then… You’ll never be free. Your thoughts pour out of your wheezing throat as you realize you’ll never be free of Chara. You’ll never be happy, they won’t let you. You’ll be their puppet as long as you live. No one can keep you safe from them forever… They’ll find you… Even at a distance… They’ll hurt you…  
“No they won’t…” Sans grits out, his arms around you tight as his eye finally flashes. “This ends tonight. They’re not going to hurt you or anyone else ever again.”   
You can barely breathe as the panic and anxiety begin to flood your chest. Sans picks you up and carries you up the stairs to Papyrus’ room.  
“Paps…” Sans’ voice is soft but dead as he carries you into his brother’s room. “Paps, I need you to do something for me.”   
“SANS?” Papyrus rouses, looking up at him confusedly. “HUMAN? IS EVERYTHING ALRIGHT?”  
“No.” Sans says, gently placing you on the bed beside him. “But Dad and I are going to make it right. Keep Frisk with you, don’t let anyone in this room. I don’t care who it is, no one but me or dad comes through that door next, and don’t tell anyone that Frisk is here. Okay Paps?”  
“WHAT’S HAPPENED SANS?” Papyrus asks as he sits up and helps you under the covers, you immediately cling to him. “CAN I HELP?”  
“You can help by keeping the kid safe and getting them to calm down.” Sans takes a deep breath. “After I leave, no one gets through that door but me or dad and no one gets to know that Frisk is here. Got it?”  
“I UNDERSTAND SANS.” Papyrus nods, his voice uncharacteristically soft.   
“Good.” Sans nods, the door closing and locking with his blue magic, before he teleports away.  
That night was the longest of your life. Papyrus held you close, read fluffy bunny and a dozen other stories to you, and comforted you until the sun came up. His phone buzzed a lot but he turned it off after it had been buzzing for ten minutes straight. Someone banged on the front door but he didn’t answer it. Instead, he stayed with you and hugged you.   
Papyrus promised you that everything would be alright and he didn’t panic as dawn’s sunlight showed the bruises around your neck. He told you that you were safe and nothing was going to happen to you. How could anything bad happen to you when you were with the Great Papyrus after all?  
As dawn broke through the window you finally began to doze and Papyrus laid wearily beside you. When the door opened again your eyes snapped open.  
“IS IT ALRIGHT NOW SANS?” Papyrus asks, his voice still soft, as the smaller skeleton walks into the room with dark circles under his eyes.   
“Yeah, it should be.” Sans sits on the edge of the bed and pets your hair gently. “Thanks bro. I knew you’d be the best person to keep them safe.”  
“I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS AFTERALL.” Papyrus says with a yawn. “WHAT HAPPENED THOUGH?”  
“I’ll tell you in a bit.” Sans’ voice was very soft as his right eye glowed, his hand glowing with it gently resting over your eyes. “The kid is moving in with us, is that alright?”  
 


	32. Chapter 32

You slept deeply, only vaguely aware of things going on around you. Muffled, raised, voices pierced your dreams once.  
“You let this happen!” You could hear Sans’ voice, but it was so angry it didn’t sound anything like him. “If you were any kind of mother you would’ve protected them! We told you that Chara was dangerous! We tried to keep the kid safe! But you only listened to that little brat and you almost let them kill Frisk!”  
You struggle to get up but, just as you sit up and realize you’re in Papyrus’ racecar bed, a bodiless hand covers your eyes.  
“I’ll give you sweet dreams again.” Gaster’s voice echoes in your mind as you fall instantly back to sleep.  
Sleep wrapped around you gently, like a veil that rested delicately over you. You know that you dreamed and that the dreams were as gentle as a breeze against your face, but you couldn’t remember the dreams.  
When you woke up nest you were in a new bed, in a new room. You sit up and look around, your neck aching as you moved your head. A wardrobe, the bed you were in, and a desk. The bear and octopus stuffed animals were at the foot of your bed. You open the wardrobe and find all your cloths, MTT brand and unspecified, neatly hung up. In the two drawers bellow you find your underwear and bottoms. There was an open window right next to the bed and you look out it. It was a beautiful sunny day out. You’re on the upper floor of a house staring into the woods. Bird song wafts into the room and ground glistens with dew.  
Silently, without meaning to be so quiet, you leave the room and find yourself in a house… It was the house that Gaster had shown you in that dream… The house where he’d brought you that night. You lean over the railing and see an empty living room. Going down the steps you look in the bathroom and then kitchen, but no one was there. You think about looking in the basement but decide not to. Instead you go to the front door and outside.  
A soft breeze welcomes you to the warm outside and everything shines brightly. Bird song catches your attention again and you wonder towards it. There are wild flowers all around. The grass is soft underfoot. The trees are tall and sun warm on your back. There’s even butterflies floating about. You stop beneath a tree near the house and see two birds singing to each other.  
A butterfly glides past your face and you follow it curiously. It flies high up a tree and you watch from the ground.  
Two bodiless hands appear before you and lift you up to the branch where the butterflies played. More butterflies, these ones glowing brightly with magic, appear around you as the bodiless hands keep you steady as you sit on the branch.  
“Very good.” A broken voice says as you coax one of the sparkly butterflies to land on your hand.  
You look down and see Gaster standing at the base of the tree, smiling at you as he observes.  
“Do you like butterflies?” He asks as his bodiless hands gently float you down to him.  
You nod and take one of the hands attached to his body and he walks you back inside.  
“I will remember that.” He smiles down at you. “How do you feel?”  
You shrug, you don’t know how to explain how you feel, then shake your head.  
“I see.” Gaster says as he leads you back into the house. “Are you hungry?”  
You nod and grin as his hand pets your head. You want spaghetti pancakes.  
“I’m sure that Papyrus will make you some.” Gaster smiles as a door upstairs opens. “He’s gone running with Undyne but will be home soon. Would you like to wash?”  
You nod.  
Something appears behind you and a pair of arms wrap around your middle as something hard rests on the top of your head.  
“Went for a walk with Gaster?” Sans asks you with a lazy grin as you look up at him curiously.  
You nod and gin, using your hands to try to show him butterflies.  
“They listened to birdsong and played with butterflies is what they want to tell you.” Gaster explains. “They’ve been non-verbal all morning.”  
“Ah…” Sans cocks an eye at you. “Welp, let’s get a bath going. How do you feel?”  
You nod.  
“Good?” Sans asks and you nod again. “Good.” He grins as you become surrounded by his blue magic. “Alright let’s get a bath going stinky. You smell like a weird puppy right now.”  
You stick your tongue out at him and he chuckles.  
“I thought you liked flying?” He asks as you float up into the air and drift about the room.  
You giggle silently, you throat aching in the process, and you swoop around the room excitedly in Sans’ magic.  
“Heh, alright, that’s enough.” Sans chuckles, setting you on the ground and walking you to the bathroom under the stairs. “After breakfast we’ll check on your soul and then… How about a movie day? I’ll call Alphys and see if we can borrow some old movies.”  
You nod and look around the bathroom. It had a full bath and shower combination, a toilet, and a sink. Sans ran the bathwater for you and had you test the temperature until it was warm enough. After that he helped you get out of your pajamas which smelled like sweat and human stink and you got into the warm water as Sans went to put your dirty clothes in the laundry.  
The warm water loosened your limbs and you floated contently in it, letting your head lean back until only your face was barely emerged from the water. The warmth penetrates down to your bones and you let out a content exhale as you drift in the water.  
“Alright,” Sans came back and pushed up the short sleeves of his t-shirt. “Sit up kiddo, gonna turn you in to a soap man now.”  
You grin at him and dunk your head beneath the water before re-emerging completely wet.  
“Heh,” “Sans chuckles, a bar of soap in hand. “Don’t get any funny ideas kiddo.”  
You stick your tongue out and, as he leans close with the soap, pop beneath the water again.  
“Gonna give me a bad time huh?” Sans gives you a dry look. “Alright kid, you asked for it.”  
You had a lot of fun dodging Sans in the tub until the skeleton fell into the water on accident.  
“You think you’re really cute, don’t cha?” He says, his shirt soaked.  
You stare up at him with a nervous smile.  
“Well…” His hand rests on your head and ruffles your wet hair. “That’s good, cuz you are.” He chuckles as you grin widely. “But seriously, hold still for a bit and let me get your head at least. Alright?”  
You nod and sit still in the warm water as he lathers up your head and then back. He gives you the bar to wash the rest of you as he gets the shower going and pulls the plug in the drain.  
“I’ll be back with a towel.” Sans says as you scrub yourself down with the soap under the current of warm water. “And a dry shirt.”  
You grin and finish washing before sitting under the stream of warm water and letting it rinse away the soap. The warmth of the water is soothing as it rains on you and your eyes begin to close contently. You’re not tired, just content, as you lean again the bath’s wall and let the water sprinkle over you.  
You open your eyes as the water stops and look up to see Sans holding a towel.  
“Come on kiddo.” He grins, plopping the towel over your head and jostling your hair in it. “You can nap in the living room, I’ll even join you until breakfast is ready.”  
You smile at that and dry off. Sans had brought you a shirt and shorts which you change into and follow him out to the living room.  
“NYEH?” Papyrus’ head pops out of the kitchen and he smiles widely at you “GOOD MORNING HUMAN! I, THE GREAT CHEF PAPYRUS, AM PREPARING YOU A NUTRITIOUS BREAKFAST OF SPAGHETTI PANCAKES! ARE YOU HUNGRY?”  
You nod and lick your lips excitedly.  
“AND METTATON IS ON THEIR WAY!” Papyrus adds. “HE’S BRINGING GARLIC BREAD FROM MS. MUFFET’S BAKERY!”  
You bounce a little on the couch before plopping on your butt beside Sans.  
“Put on whatcha want.” Sans tosses you the remote as he whips out his phone. “I’m texting Alphys Paps! Want me to tell her anything?”  
“THAT I AM CREATING MY GREATEST PASTA DISH YET!” Papyrus calls from the kitchen as you flick through the channels. “AND THAT THERE WILL BE PLENTY IF THEY HAVEN’T EATEN YET!”  
“Got it.” Sans replies as you settle on a cartoon channel that was airing My Little Pony. “Is this the show you told me about on the phone?”  
You nod and grin at him.  
“Looks cute.” Sans chuckles before focusing on his phone.  
Gaster emerged from the basement a few minutes later and sat beside you on the couch.  
“Interesting concept.” He says as the episode ends, it’d been a re-run of the second episode and dealt with the elements of harmony. “Is this a lore of humans Frisk?”  
You shrug and shake your head. You don’t know, it was just a cute television show for all you knew.  
“Alphys and Undyne swinging by after breakfast.” Sans calls to the kitchen as someone knocks on the door.  
You’re suddenly pulled against Sans, his eyes locked on the door, as Gaster answers it.  
“Ah, Mettaton.” Gaster opens the door with a polite bow of his head. “Welcome. Papyrus said you were coming for breakfast.”  
“Gaster darling!” Mettaton hugs him in greeting, in his arm a brown paper bag full of things. “Lovely to see you deary,” He turns and his eyes land on you. “There’s my little star!” He drops the bag on the couch and picks you up. “How are you doing? Have you missed me? I came by yesterday but you were asleep and after night you had”  
“Mettaton.” Sans snaps cutting him off, his face stern. “Did you get the garlic bread?” A casual smile spreads across his face. “Paps needs it. He’s in the kitchen if you want to bring it to him.”  
“Oh, right.” Mettaton, much to your surprise gives an understanding nod towards Sans and puts you on the couch. “I’m just going to go give this to Pappy and then you and I have catching up to do since we couldn’t at the welcome home party.”  
You smile and nod, swaying as you try to balance on the couch.  
“You okay kiddo?” Sans asks as you plop back down harder than you’d meant to.  
You nod and try to think of a way to tell him you’re dizzy. You open your mouth to tell him but the second you try to speak your throat stings painfully your voice comes out as a strangled sound. Your hands fly to your mouth and clamp over it as Sans’ eyes go wide.  
“I think you might need something for that.” Sans says as you look between him and Gaster confusedly. “I’ll go grab some lozenges for you later. That should help.”  
You nod and, using your hands, try to show that you’d gotten dizzy after Mettaton had put you down.  
“They experienced brief vertigo.” Gaster says as he rests a hand on your head. “We will test the symptom after they have eaten. Humans becomes easily ill when they do not take in enough sustenance for too long and Frisk is near the thirty six hour mark.”  
Sans frowns and lifts up the arm closest to you.  
“Come here kiddo.” Sans says and you move next to him. “If I had hair it’d all be grey by now.” He tells you, taping his forehead to yours. “Take it easy for a while, alright? No running off or trying to save the world, again.”  
You nod and use him as a pillow before yawning. You point at the T.V. as a commercial for sunblock plays.  
“Huh?” Sans watches the commercial. “Do you want sunblock?”  
You shake your head and try to make a motion like waves with your hands.  
“Ah, you’re trying to do this.” Gaster says after watching you. “Here, I will teach you some of my language.”  
You sit up as Sans cocks an eye at you both.  
“This is water…” Gaster shows you with his hands and you mimic the motion. “This is swimming. You are trying to ask if you can go swimming, correct?”  
You nod and then try to gesture that you want to learn.  
“This is learning.” Gaster makes his hands like a book and opens them. “This is how you ask to learn how to swim.”  
You repeat the gestures and then do them for Sans.  
“Ah.” Understanding dawn on his face and he begins to use the same hands language as he speaks. “Yeah, we’ll take you to the lake when you’re feeling better and teach you how to swim.”  
You grin and make the learning motion, holding your hands together and opening them like a book towards Gaster and then take his hands in yours and makes the motion again.  
“Yes.” Gaster nods and continues to gesture with his hands as he speaks. “I will teach you how to speak in hands.”  
“Breakfast darlings!” Mettaton calls as he carries out a large basket with the sliced garlic break, Papyrus beside them with a large plate stacked high with spaghetti pancakes.  
“NYEH HEH!” Papyrus grins widely. “METTATON HAD SOME GREAT SUGGESTIONS FOR THEM AND NOW THEY ARE PERFECTION!”  
You’re nearly bouncing on the couch, you’re so excited.  
“Stop jumping on the couch.” Sans chuckles, catching you around the middle and pulling you to sit back down. “You’re gonna fall.”  
You giggle silently and try to get out of his arms to jump around again, a mischievous feeling filling your chest.  
“Look here you little stinker.” Sans gives you a gentle noogie as Gaster helps Mettaton and Papyrus set the table with the breakfast fixings. “Settle down!”  
You grin up at him and then do something you haven’t done since the Underground to Sans.  
You choose FLIRT, and wiggle your eyebrows at him.  
“Heh, no dice.” Sans winks. “Do you want spaghetti pancakes or not?”  
You nod eagerly.  
“Then behave!” Sans tells you firmly. “We’ll play after breakfast alright?”  
You grin and hold up your pinky trying to communicate that you promise.  
“Good.” Sans lets you go and you scamper off the couch to the dining room table. “I’m going to need a nap today…”  
Breakfast was a great deal of fun. All of the skeletons show you the language of hands as you try to talk to Mettaton. The moment that the robot celebrity realizes what they’re trying to teach you he joins in trying to learn as well. By the end of breakfast you have not just a full stomach but a handle on the basics of the language of hands and can communicate some with them now.  
“Hey, Gaster’s gotta check on Frisk’s soul and their voice.” Sans says as you help Papyrus clear the dishes. “If Alphys and Undyne show up while we’re downstairs could you send Alphys down? Wanna get her opinion on some stuff.”  
“Of course darling, we’ll all come down.” Mettaton suggests, petting your head.  
“OH,” Papyrus glances at Mettaton nervously. “PERHAPS WE SHOULD NOT METTATON. THE SOUL IS A VERY PERSONAL THING.”  
“I don’t think our little star minds.” Mettaton grins down at you.  
“BUT THEN…” Papyrus looks at you, his eyes sad, before shaking his head. “I WANT TO SHOW YOU SOMETHING IN MY ROOM.”  
Mettaton cocks an eye at him and smiles suggestively.  
“Really?” Mettaton asks. “Alone?”  
“WELL, I SUPPOSE.” Papyrus says.  
“That’s our cue.” Sans says as his blue magic wraps around you. “Come on kiddo.”  
You float down the stairs behind Sans and Gaster, the smaller skeleton holding your hand as his eye glows.  
“Just gonna have a quick check up and then we can get back to having fun.” Sans assures you as a nervous feeling settles in your stomach.  
You’re taken to a room bathed in a sterile white light. The wall to the left had a large computer screen on it, a massive desk with lots of drawers built into the wall. To the right was what looked like a large hospital bed made neatly with white sheets, pillows, and a thick blanket.  
“Settle them on the bed.” Gaster says as he pulls up the computer.  
Sans sets you on the bed and you look around uncertainly.  
“We just gotta see how your soul is doing, that’s all.” Sans explains. “A few scans, that’s all.”  
You nod and then freeze, memories of the last time you had brought your soul out for Gaster coming to mind. In the void… The table… Sans had used his magic to hold you still as Gaster had tried to extract Chara’s soul… It’d hurt so bad and then…  
Your breathing begins to speed up as the memories come back to the surface.  
“Hey, hey!” Sans snaps his fingers in front of your face and then guides your head between both hands to his face. “Look at me Frisk. It’s okay. It’s just scans, nothing else. We just need to look at it.”  
You shake your head, your hands clenching your chest where your soul rested, as you begin to shake. You don’t want to hurt again. Pain, any pain, was too much. It’d been such a nice day so far. You don’t want to feel any more pain.  
“They’re beginning to panic.” Gaster observes, the computer behind him lighting up. “Perhaps they should be put to sleep for the scans?”  
You shake your head, you don’t want it, you don’t want them to make you do it either.  
“No,” Sans tells Gaster. “Frisk look at me. It’s just me. You can trust me Frisk.” He presses his forehead to yours and stares you in the eye. “We’re not going to hurt you kiddo. You know that, I know you do, we just want to make sure you’re healing. We’re trying to prevent pain not hurt you anymore.” He presses his teeth to your forehead and you realize he’s kissing your head, it’s just that he doesn’t have lips. “Please, trust me. I’ll never hurt you Frisk. I’m never going to let you get hurt again. Alright?”  
You take a deep breath and nod. Nervously you kiss his forehead and then smile timidly.  
“That’s better.” Sans grins and helps you lay down. “Don’t worry, this will be fast, I promise.”  
You nod and take a deep breath as Gaster moves beside you. Your soul stirs and is brought to the surface by the bodiless hand that glowed purple. It looked different from when you had shone it to Asriel. You stare in confusion at it as three bodiless hands glowing different colors drift all around it. The shard of red that had been left was gone, seeming to turn into a red dust that drifted throughout the purple. The purple magic had created a thick wall in the shape that your soul had been, containing the red particles.  
“Hmmmm…” Gaster exhales in frustration as he reads what comes up on the screen, an image of your soul appearing beside the notes.  
“What’s the verdict?” Sans asks as the bodiless hands drift away, gently guiding your soul with the purple hand back into your body.  
“No better.” Gaster says thoughtfully as he reads. “But no worse. DT is still critically low but it hasn’t dropped any more… It seems that the shard that the child retained shattered under the stress and the magic maintaining the shard has effectively contained what remains.”  
You look questioningly at Sans who’s eyes are locked on the computer screen.  
“They’re stable though?” Sans asks.  
“For now.” Gaster nods. “I will begin to develop a long term solution… I believe we should attempt a DT injection though.”  
“I want Alphys’ opinion on that.” Sans replies, walking to the screen and reading it. “You know the theory better than anyone but she’s actually done the experimentation.”  
“She experimented on monsters with DT taken from random samples.” Gaster reasons calmly as he brings up other charts and windows. “We are working with a human who has displayed a high tolerance for DT and would be injecting them with the DT drained from fractions of their own soul.”  
That makes you look up confusedly. When had they taken DT from your soul? You slide off the bed and tug on Gaster’s coat, giving him a confused look.  
“We extracted the DT from the fraction of your soul that Chara possesses.” Gaster explains, looking down at you.  
Your eyes go wide and you look at Sans who sighs.  
“They’re alright,” Sans assures you. “Actually recovered faster than you did after what they’d done to you… They were up and being a pain in my tail bone within minutes of the extraction.”  
You feel relieved and then gesture why? Why did they extract the DT at all?  
“Their soul is effectively a monster soul now and with the DT they were excessively powerful. Without it they are much weaker and unable to do you anymore harm. The husk that remained of your soul in them disintegrated and merged with their monster soul.” Gaster says as he types quickly. “If they had cooperated the process would have been quite simple and painless. Asriel was much more cooperative.”  
Your eyes go wide in horror and you look between them. You try to find a way to ask what they had done to Asriel? Why would they do something so mean to him?! He’d been so nice and hadn’t hurt you!  
“We were concerned that Chara would take the DT that the fraction of your soul that he possess housed.” Gaster sighs tiredly, becoming frustrated. “A monster who possesses DT is near unstoppable and both of them are risk factors that none of us were willing to chance.”  
“Asriel offered too.” Sans adds. “He said that if it would help you get better he was happy to give back your DT. It didn’t hurt him at all and he slept through the entire extraction.”  
You nod slowly and then look at them uncertainly as the room warped a little.  
“Sans, they need to sit or they’ll faint.” Gaster turns his face back to the screen.  
Sans leads you back to the bed quickly and makes you sit back down.  
“Feeling okay?” Sans asks concerned as you hold your head. “What’s wrong?”  
You shake your head. It was just so much and… You felt so weird and your head ached… This all felt like a dream but… You knew it wasn’t.  
“Lay them back.” Gaster instructs as an alert comes onto the screen. “Their soul distressed. Calm them down if you can.”  
“I’d like to tell you that he wasn’t always this bossy.” Sans says as he lays you back against the pillow. “But… That’d be a lie.” He chuckles. “Guess being a bonehead runs in the family.”  
You smile at the joke and Sans places his hand on your head.  
“What movie do you want to watch when we’re all done?” Sans asks you as the aching in your head began to ease, a faint blue glow coming form his hand. “One for mafia, two for anime, three for buddy cop, four super hero, or five for dinosaurs.”  
You think about it and then hold up three fingers, then two, then one.  
“So buddy cop, then anime, then a mob movie?” Sans chuckles. “Sounds good to me. Think we can fit a few naps in there?”  
You nod and point to the ceiling, wanting to ask if you could watch the stars tonight?  
“Stargazing.” Gaster calls over his shoulder.  
“Yeah, we can look at the stars tonight.” Sans chuckles. “It’s been pretty warm so won’t even have to bundle up.”  
You grin at that and take a deep breath.  
“Feeling better?” Sans asks.  
You nod and sit up as the door upstairs opens.  
“S-Sans?” Alphys’ voice calls down nervously. “P-Papyrus said you w-wanted to talk to me?”  
“Yeah,” Sans calls. “Come on down. We need to know if the SCALES are in our favor!”  
You giggle silently as Alphys comes down.  
“Scales?” Alphys asks, the lizard scientist missing the joke. “Hi Frisk, I’m glad you’re awake. What’s this about scales?”  
“Dr. Alphys.” Gaster smiles at her, the lizard freezing nervously. “We’ve just evaluated Frisk’s soul’s status and would like your thoughts on a treatment since you’ve experimented more with DT.”  
“W-What?” Alphys pales.  
“You know the DT that we drained off Chara and Asriel?” Sans asks. “Gaster thinks if we put it back in Frisk then it’ll help their soul heal. What do you think?”  
“I-I-I…” Alphys shakes her head and then looks at the screen, her eyes flicking over the readings.  
“We’re really running out of ideas and you can read the reports yourself.” Sans says and now you look up at them curiously. “We need to do something.”  
“G-Give me some time to r-read these.” Alphys says, absent mindedly sitting in the chair and flicking through the reports.  
“Fine by me.” Sans grins and then looks at you. “Wanna get started on that movie marathon?”  
You nod and hop off the bed before bolting for the stairs.  
“Kid!” Sans calls after you warningly as you race ahead. “Don’t run up the stairs!”  
You stick your tongue out at him before racing as fast as you could up the stairs and back into the living room.  
“There you are runt!” Undyne’s voice surprises you and you’re suddenly dive tackled by the fish woman. “Bout time you’re up!”  
You struggle to escape her headlock as she noogies you roughly.  
“Ease up fish stick.” Sans comes through the basement door. “They’re still pretty weak.”  
“Bull crap!” Undyne laughs, releasing you never the less. “Frisk’s invincible! You saw the way they took on that flower freak! Anyone who can do that isn’t weak, right twerp?” She grins at you.  
You grin back and then stick your tongue out and then pat your own bottom in challenge.  
“You… Little…” A wide, twitching, smile spreads across Undyne’s face as her eye twitches. “GET BACK HERE TWERP!”  
You immediately bolt as Undyne tears after you. You run up to Papyrus’ room where Mettaton and the Tall skeleton were, using them as shields to run around Undyne and then back out of the room. You launch off the landing and Sans quickly catches you in blue and sets you safely on the couch before Undyne launches after you. You gasp and run outside as silent laughter rises from your throat. Undyne chases you around the outside of the house as Papyrus, Mettaton, and Sans follows behind.  
Something flashes in front of you as you prepare to lap around a second time.  
“Look kid,” Sans pants. “take it easy, you’re wearing me out.”  
You grin excitedly and hug him tightly as Undyne tears around the side of the house.  
“Ah crap.” Sans says as she charges at you both. “We’re boned.”  
You burry your face into his tee-shirt as you giggle silently.  
“STOP HIDING AND FACE ME!” Undyne yells at you as she charges.  
Sans quickly snaps you both to the side to dodge the woman and then you’re wrapped in his blue magic and held high up in the air.  
“Chill out fish stick.” Sans says as you grin widely. “They’re still pretty weak.”  
“Then fighting me will make them stronger!” Undyne snaps, her eyes narrowing as you stick your tongue out at them. “PUT THEM DOWN RIGHT NOW SANS!”  
“Kid!” Sans gives you a stern look. “Behave! You’re not helping!”  
You grin and make a silly face at Undyne as a vein begins to throb on her temple.  
“Keep this up and you’re grounded!” Sans snaps as he dodges Undyne trying to get ahold of him.  
You laugh harder, soft noise hissing out of your throat as Papyrus and Mettaton catch up.  
“UNDYNE!” Papyrus says. “IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO DUEL I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM ALWAYS UP TO A CHALLENGE!”  
Tears from laughing and happiness brim on your eyes. Everything goes fuzzy and you feel nauseous as you stop grinning.  
“I thought we were going to have a movie day?” Mettaton protests. “Come on Pappy, Undyne, we’ll watch movies and relax. Does this really have to turn into a training day?”  
“They’re the ones that issued the challenge!” Unydne snaps and then he voice suddenly shifts. “Uh, they don’t look so good.”  
You’re lowered quickly as your head spins. Suddenly, you’re really tired and all you want to do is nap.  
“Kiddo?” Sans’ face swims in your vision. “You alright?”  
You shake your head and burry your face into his shirt, so sleepy…  
“Come on, let’s get you inside.” Sans sighs as you’re picked up.  
“Poor deary.” Mettaton says as he carries you inside. “All this excitement, you must be sleepy now.”  
You nod but smile. You make the gesture meaning happy with your hands.  
A movie is thrown in and everyone settles around the television in the living room. You’re initially on the couch with Papyrus and Mettaton but half way through the movie you wiggle off it and put your head in Sans’ lap. He chuckles and pets your hair as the movie goes on.  
“Where’s Alphys?” Undyne asks as the ending credits role.  
“Downstairs with dad reading some reports.” Sans explains. “Might wanna tell her that we’re throwing in some anime.”  
“Yeah, yeah.” Undyne gets up and opens the basement door. “Hey! Alphys! Dadster! We’re throwing the anime in!”  
You sit up sleepily and rub your eyes.  
“Told you to cool it.” Sans gives you a withering look. “Now you’re worn out, proud of yourself?”  
You nod and grin widely.  
“You snarky little punk.” Sans rests his arm across your shoulders and ruffles your hair. “You’re so grounded tomorrow.”  
You look up at him with large eyes and make the gesture for why with your hands.  
“Because it’s the only way I can get my naps in.” Sans grins and squeezes you to his side. “And you have some napping to catch up on too.”  
Alphys and Gaster both arrive from the basement, the lizard scientist looking thoughtful.  
“Late to the party.” Sans teases them. “Just about to put Mew Mew Kissy Cutie the Movie in.”  
“O-Oh that sounds wonderful.” Alphys smiles brightly as Gaster’s eyes assess you. “Sorry, t-the reports took a while.”  
“THAT IS QUITE ALRIGHT!” Papyrus assures her happily. “ARE YOU HUNGRY? I, THE GREAT MASTER CHEF, PAPYRUS WILL MAKE LUNCH FOR EVERYONE!”  
Papyrus and Undyne made lunch while the movie played, the fishwoman waving off that she’d already seen it a dozen times. Not that she didn’t run out of the kitchen to watch her favorite scenes, which were preluded to by shouting and the characters saying for a solid two minutes that they were about to fight.  
After lunch Undyne and Alphys head out to do something, Papyrus and Mettaton both go out on a date, Gaster returns to his room/lab, and you begin to feel better.  
You lay on the couch stuffed with spaghetti salad and going in and out of sleep. Each time you wake up you’re in a different position and don’t quite remember how you got to your new angle. But, you were comfy, and once you almost rolled off the couch but blue magic caught you and placed you safely next to Sans.  
“Caught a human…” Sans mumbles sleepily as you’re set next to him and his arms hold you close. “Keeping it…”  
You smile at that and get comfortable.  
The next time you wake you’re alone on the couch and you look around confusedly. The sun was setting outside and you could hear Gaster moving about downstairs. Someone was in the bathroom and there was voices coming from Papyrus’ room.  
You get up and wonder sleepily around. You’re light headed and feel slightly detached, like you’d felt when you first woke up that day. Still stuffed from lunch you wonder up the stairs. There were three doors at the top of the stairs. To the left was Papyrus’ room, decorations and caution tape wrapped around the door. The middle door was plain, it’d been the room you had woken up in that morning. The right door was also plain but it was locked unlike the others.  
You wonder back into the middle room and look around it. There was a nice view of the back yard, woods really, from your window. Leaning out the window you see that the ledge of the roof isn’t too far above it. Curiously you stand on the windowsill and reach for the ledge. Struggling your way up you pull yourself onto the roof. The sun was setting, the sky full of reds and purples.  
The roof was warm under you as you laid back on it and watched the sun. It was so peaceful here…  
“Kid?” Sans calls you from bellow. “Where’d you go?”  
You get up and go back to your window and lower yourself back to the sill.  
“Jeez kid!” Sans says as he takes your hand and pulls you back into the room. “What were you doing up there?”  
You try to think of a way to explain that you were exploring and look through the desk. Finding a piece of paper and markers you wrote down that you’d been exploring.  
“Ah…” Sans nods. “Well, find anything interesting on the roof?”  
You write that it was warm and the sunset is pretty.  
“Nice.” Sans grins. “How do you feel?”  
You write that you feel sleepy and light headed but not in a bad way, just in a weird way.  
“Yeah…” Sans nods. “So, whatcha think of your room? It’s not as big as the other ones but it’s got everything you need.”  
You write that you really like it and that the bed is really soft.  
“Nice.” Sans seems happy with that. “You know if you need anything just to let us know. We’ll take care of you.”  
You nod and smile. You ask on the paper what he’s going to do now that he’s Aboveground?  
“I think, nap under the sun.” Sans says, leading you down stairs. “Wonder around and explore it a bit. Dunno really.” He ruffles your hair. “We’ll figure it out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Fucking End!  
> Not Really, got the next series lined up and don’t forget to check out the Fluffy Bits Series. I take requests and suggestions so if you would like please message me them. This isn’t the end of this timeline but it is the end of this segment of it. Obviously there are still questions and issues to be resolved, like in real life, but as for this chapter of this AU this is the end. I really hope you all enjoyed. If you did leave me a comment! I’m always looking for feed back! The next series I’m going to be working on will be the first season of Fluffy Bits, still Undertale and based in this AU, so if you want keep your eyes out for it.  
> Thank you for enjoying this hellish rollercoaster with me!  
> Remember, whatever you do, stay DETERMINED!


End file.
